


Live Like Legends

by annubkb



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M, Hunk/Shay - Freeform, I don't wanna tag Hunk/Shay and gets people's hopes up but, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Slow Burn, a lot of the characters will appear tbh?, blade of marmora, everyone gets involved, gets involved, klance, like...glacial slow burn, not all of them have powers, oh whoops did I mention, super slow burn rip sors, superhero au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2018-12-01 10:26:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11484444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annubkb/pseuds/annubkb
Summary: The Arcane League for Talents of Extraordinary Ability has fallen, leaving Allura and Coran scrambling to find people willing to fight Zarkon and protect the world. Lance is a college student doing the hero gig part time, Hunk is an engineering genius with the seed of a great idea, Pidge is a hacker looking for any information on what happened to her family when the Kerberos Research Team disappeared, Keith is searching for the same thing but with a distinctly different skill set that includes arson apparently, and Shiro has just escaped from the Global Association for Legitimate Responsive Action.Together they form Vigilante Operatives for Large-scale Threat Response and Obstacle Neutralization, as a largely underqualified but extremely determined team.





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> many thanks to my friends: shiv for beta-ing even though she has her own life, cam (kissmesexybatman) and andrea (flyingsquirrely) for their invaluable input and for boosting my confidence in this fic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura had a thought. 
> 
> “Coran,” she said firmly, “you have authorization to activate the V.O.L.T.R.O.N. Initiative. Do it. We need the resources allocated to it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: I had to update the chapter because apparently I uploaded and old version whOOPS there are only subtle differences, though, the content is largely the same

“How did this happen?” Allura murmured, surveying the smoldering ruins of the buildings that once represented her father’s life’s work. What used to be a sleek white complex hidden in the jungles of Arus was now a blackened gouge in the land. Trees were burnt and rubble covered the ground. But the bodies were the worst. Hundreds – maybe thousands – of lives lost in the past month, and now even more gone with the destruction of their headquarters.

Allura was as impeccably put-together as always, with her silvery hair in a neat bun and her professional clothes unwrinkled, but her lip trembled and her lashes were wet with angry tears. Her gaze kept sticking on the smaller bodies, often hidden behind or underneath larger ones. Headquarters was home to many families who’d been given a place of refuge with the Arcane League for Talents of Extraordinary Ability.

Beside her, Coran twirled his orange mustache and sighed.

“It must have been Zarkon,” he concluded. “He was the only one besides your father and I with access to all the personnel files and security details needed to do something like this.”

The air smelled putrid, a combination of smoke, chemicals, and charred flesh. Allura swallowed the urge to vomit and clenched her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms to ground herself.

“The Arusians will have questions,” she said. “They knew of this building, though not its true purpose.”

“I will take care of it,” Coran promised. “They’ll write it off as the explosion of an abandoned warehouse for the Altea Factories due to a gas leak. No one was injured.”

“But the bodies,” Allura protested. “They’re…still visible.”

“I’ll take care of that too,” Coran said, uncharacteristically solemn. Allura opened her mouth and then closed it again, apparently deciding not to ask.

“Most of our personnel were dead to the world to begin with so I suppose that’s not an issue. Who remains?”

“Not many, I’m afraid. The Olkari Labs, the Taujeer Mines, the Bakku Gardens, and maybe some other smaller institutions. The Balmeran Outpost is largely untouched, though I fear Zarkon will target them next.”

“Our electronic files?”

“Most will be intact. The off-site backup is—was only known to me and your father. Our many years of hard work have not been in vain.”

“Maybe not. But the lives we’ve lost are too great a price. We must stop Zarkon, Coran. My father expressed concern that Zarkon had been straying from the path of righteousness, and too late we found out he was right. Whatever it is that Zarkon wishes to accomplish, we cannot allow him to do so.”

“I agree. Your father expressed these concerns to me, as well, back when the Kerberos team went missing.”

“The Kerb— _Zarkon_ was behind that? He’s been interfering longer than I thought.”

“Yes, well, he’s been interfering for long enough. Unfortunately, your father was never quite sure how to go about stopping him, and I admit I’m at a loss too.”

"I don't know, Coran." Allura suddenly felt tired, and her stoic visage cracked a bit. "Zarkon was once very close to my father. His betrayal is no simple problem. We need resources, we need information, and we need allies. We should contact whomever we are able to.”

Allura had a thought.  

“Coran,” she said firmly, “you have authorization to activate the V.O.L.T.R.O.N. Initiative. Do it. We need the resources allocated to it.”

“I’ve considered that as well. The only problem is the roster of candidates. It was short to begin with and now it’s even shorter. Many of the people on it have defected with Zarkon and even more are dead.”

“How many are left, then?”

“Two people.”

“Only two?” Allura asked weakly. “Who?”

“You, Allura,” Coran said gently. Then, he added,  “And Slav.”

“Isn’t Slav missing?”

“Is he? Again?” Coran tutted. “Then just you, I suppose. I’m sorry, my dear.”

“It’s fine, Coran. We’ll find new people. We’ll ask around the Balmeran Outposts, maybe.”

“A sound plan. And you were right about what we need. Right now we are sorely lacking information. But Takashi Shirogane of the Kerberos team recently made a miraculous return. He’s been housed with the Olkari medical scientists for his recovery period.”

“Let’s pay him a visit.”

“Very well.”

As one, Allura and Coran turned back to the ravaged building and the many victims of the attack which had brought it down.

“They will be remembered,” Allura said firmly. Coran clasped a hand to her shoulder and smiled sadly.

“Their sacrifice will be honored,” he agreed. They turned and left behind what was once the site of the Arcane League for Talents of Extraordinary Ability Headquarters.

* * *

“OH MY GOD, HUNK, I’M GONNA DIE!” Lance yelped, barely dodging a bullet

“You’re not gonna die, Lance,” Hunk reassured him through the earpiece communicator. “Just calm down and focus. You got this.”

Lance took a breath and raised his arms, a frown crossing his normally smiling face as he concentrated. The gunfire rattled his nerves, but he continued his motions, which had been compared to a cross between bad ballet and tai chi (thanks, Hunk).

The water coolers in the room began to shake and water bottles in bags and on desks began to tremble. As it had ever since he was a little boy, all the water around Lance responded to him. The coolers burst and caps flew off the bottles, water spurting into the air. It followed his hands and gathered to form a wall in front of him.

He waved his hands downward, with his fingers spread wide. The three guys who’d been robbing the bank froze, literally, as the water cascaded over them and solidified into ice, trapping them in place and effectively ending the robbery. It was thick enough that they couldn’t break free but thin enough that they wouldn’t die. You know, hopefully. No one had died yet, anyway.

Lance whooped. His heart was still pounding in his ears, blood rushing loudly. He grinned at the two dozen or so others in the bank, hoping they couldn’t see how jittery the adrenaline had made him.

“Alright,” he called out. “It’s safe now, but I better skedaddle before the cops show up and clap me in handcuffs for practicing vigilantism, and then sell me off to the government for testing.”

“Thank you so much, Waterboy!” one of the bank tellers called. The people in the bank were picking themselves off the cold marble floors, where they’d all thrown themselves at the command of the robbers.

Lance grimaced.  

Six months into the whole hero gig, he had made a name for himself as a local vigilante, one of three in L.A. Well, he’d made several names for himself, actually. The media had started reporting on his heroic deeds, which was pretty fucking awesome. But, unfortunately, each news station had given him a different, horrible, title.

Waterboy. Aquaguy. Oceankid.

 _Seaman_.

Like, c’mon. Really?

“Uh, yeah, you’re welcome,” Lance said. “I kinda prefer _Tempest_ , though. Waterboy kinda ruins the image, you know?” He gestured to his blue hoodie and matching blue face mask.

“What _image_?” some balding asshole scoffed. “You look like a punk in a shitty Halloween costume.”

Lance was highly, grievously offended.

“Uh, excuse me, this punk just saved your life!” He exchanged glances with the nearest young adult, a guy who looked about his age, but maybe younger and in high school. “Man, adults these days have no sense of respect, amirite?”

The kid snorted, the asshole tutted, and Lance grinned again.

“Seriously, though, Tempest. It’s easy enough, right? I swept into your lives like a storm, all power and majesty.”

“And knobby-ass knees,” Probably-A-High-Schooler muttered. In his right ear, a chuckle came through the earpiece Lance had forgotten he was wearing.

Lance placed his hand over his heart.

“Kid, I thought we bonded.” The kid rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” he said. Lance nearly snorted. Oh yeah, this guy was _definitely_ still in his teens. “But, thanks, I guess. For stopping the robbers.”

“My pleasure. Tell all your friends. We want all the other potential thief-sicles to know that there’s an even chance of a dashing dude in blue showing up mid-crime and incapacitating them with his super awesome water-controlling superpowers.” 

Sirens whooped outside and Lance jumped.

“Okaygottagobye!” he shouted, and sprinted from the building.

“You clear yet, buddy?” Hunk asked.

“Nope, not yet.”

“Okay, just remember to be careful! Remember that one cop? Don't wanna run into her. She was super harsh but like I don’t want you arrested.” Once upon a time, one particularly strict cop had kinda threatened Lance with a life sentence for practicing vigilantism. Hunk had freaked out, because Hunk was a chronic worrier.

 “Aw, you’re so sweet, Hunkalicious. I remember, yeah, and I wanna be as far from the scene of the crime as possible.” Borrowing some water from the sewers with a grabbing and pulling motion, Lance created a powerful jet of water and shot himself onto the roof of a nearby building. He may have screamed on the way up.

“Lance? You good, buddy?”

“Yeah, no worries, just nearly died again. But I’m clear. Where to next?”

“ _Nearly_ —nope, not gonna ask. But, uh, back home, dude. Class starts in half an hour.”

“Ah, shit, okay. I’m on my way.”

Lance summoned some water from the sewers again and used it to surf back to campus. He ducked into an alley a few blocks from his apartment and pulled off the mask, shoving it into his sweatshirt pocket. He jogged over to his building and threw the door open with a flourish.

“Hunky, I’m home!” he sang. From the spare room, Hunk sighed.

“Do you have to say that every time you come home?” He tried to sound exasperated, but Lance could practically _hear_ the guy smiling.

“Uh, yeah, definitely,” Lance replied, shucking his sweatshirt. He pulled off his clothes as he made his way into the bathroom to shower, leaving them in a trail on the floor.

Cleaning was a problem for future Lance.

When he was showered and dressed in fresh jeans and a baseball tee, he joined Hunk in the third room. His roommate since freshman year, best friend, and crime-fighting partner was hunched over his workbench, fiddling with his latest gadget. The police scanner he’d built flickered beside him, occasionally letting out a stream of words.

“Dude, it’s a cave in here, open the windows once in a while,” Lance teased, knowing full well that Hunk didn’t open the windows because some of the stuff they kept in the spare room was _highly_ suspicious. Not that anyone would think to be suspicious of them. Hunk was a singularly good soul wrapped in a giant guy with a fondness for cooking, and Lance was a boisterous dork, and proud of it. No one would think that the two of them were secretly doling out vigilante justice in the city.

“Shut it,” Hunk retorted good-naturedly. “Okay, I’m ready to go. Aliens, Psychics, and Ghosts, here we come!”

“Hunk,” Lance said as they walked. “Do you think I’m an alien and that’s why I have superpowers?”

“Oh my god, Lance.”

“No, I’m serious, dude,” Lance insisted.  

“Well, okay, technically the chances of there not only being alien life that has already come to earth but it also being reproductively compatible with humans is really slim, but…” Their walk to class sparked a lengthy debate about the possible sources of Lance’s superpowers, which continued even once they’d sat down at the back of the lecture hall.

“I could be a _merman_ , Hunk! A merman!!”

“Then where’s your tail, _Aquaguy_?”

“…I could be _descended_ from a merman!”

And so on, while they took half-hearted notes.

They grabbed lunch off a food truck and then parted paths – Hunk for some shmancy electrical engineering class, and Lance to his aerodynamics course.

Lance had always liked school and learning, though it was hard work. He wasn’t naturally good at memorizing things and he’d never officially been diagnosed but his next-door neighbor growing up was a doctor and had said he probably had mild ADHD. When Lance had heard his mom say that he’d felt relief – finally, an explanation. But his dad didn’t really believe in mental illness, so instead of paying for a psychologist, he’d paid for a tutor, and Lance had learned to live with his brain.

Still, once all his classes for the day were done, he was relieved it was a Friday. While he waited for Hunk to get back, Lance felt the sudden urge to be responsible – he picked up the mess he’d left that morning and did all the dishes.

“Lance, I’m back,” Hunk called as he opened the front door. Just seeing his giant teddy bear of a best friend made Lance smile. “Wanna work out?”

“Yeah, definitely,” replied Lance.

“Cool, because I think we’re being evaluated during training this week and I wanna make sure I meet the standards.”

“Shit, again? Didn’t we get evaluated last week?” Lance complained. “I’m _dying_ here. Please place my body upon the sacrificial altar and offer me to the ROTC gods.”

Hunk snickered. “You mean Iverson?”

“Iverson’s not a god,” Lance hissed, horrified. “ _Es el diablo_.” 

Hunk laughed and Lance grinned at his own joke and life was good. He was always surprised that it had worked out like this – a great best friend, a good ROTC scholarship deal for college, not to mention the whole local hero thing.

Yeah, life was good.

* * *

“This is _not_ good,” Keith muttered to himself, scrubbing a hand over his face. Sure, he’d known at some point he’d have to face the fact that he’d hit _another_ dead end, but he had been hoping for later rather than sooner. Sure, when he’d dropped out of school, losing his scholarship and abandoning his dreams of being a pilot in the hopes of finding a missing friend, he hadn’t expected it to be _easy_ , but this was just ridiculous.

It had been almost eight months now, since Shiro’s disappearance. When it happened, it was big news – a promising new pilot flying a father-son team of UCLA scientists out over the ocean for ground-breaking research, then suddenly all three of them gone.

Pilot error, the news said.

Keith knew that was bullshit. Shiro was smart and cautious and didn’t make errors. Keith was the reckless one, who took risks and made impulsive decisions. Shiro was an impeccable flier and “pilot error” was bullshit. Keith could feel it all the way to his bones.

So Keith made one of his impulsive decisions some random Tuesday after missing too many training sessions for ROTC, and quit. Then, to pay back his ROTC scholarships, he withdrew from UCLA entirely and got a job at a diner, and another at a bar, leaving him small chunks of free time in which he attempted to track down Shiro.

Not that he’d gotten all that far in almost eight months. He’d been following a feeling, something telling him to investigate just what Shiro and the scientists were looking into, and he’d found that out, even though it wasn’t exactly public information.

 _Ultragenes in Bioluminescent Deep Sea Creatures_ , had been the title of their project proposal. Keith had found it out from some loose-lipped research assistant at the Holt Lab, who had been drunk and starving for affection, so Keith had essentially flirted the information out of him. 

That had been his last breakthrough, three months ago, and here he was, still unable to find out what ultragenes even _were_.

Keith sighed and closed his laptop, leaning over and burying his face in his pillows. He’d thought that he’d found something earlier today when he found an old – like from the 20’s – paper on ultragenetics, but only the abstract was accessible without subscription to the journal and it explained pretty much nothing.

Though impulsive and reckless, Keith wasn’t really one for dramatics. He allowed himself about ten seconds with his face in his pillows before he sat up and contemplated his next move.

Keith liked to think he was self-aware. He knew he was straightforward, direct, honest. He liked solving puzzles by cutting straight to the heart of things and he liked to solve people that way too, which was probably why he wasn’t a people person. Most people weren’t straightforward the same way he was – their layers of bullshit said just as much about them as what was at their core, so Keith always found himself struggling to understand.

With that in mind, Keith acknowledged that maybe he’d been ramming his wall of problems head on when he should have been looking for a way around it. But his skill set was very much catered to his preference for directness. Keith had no idea how he was going to go about finding Shiro if he had to do some sort of amateur espionage.

But maybe he could do both?

Explosions for a distraction and he’d break in…

 _Yeah_ , Keith thought to himself, a smile growing on his face. _That could work._

* * *

A satisfied smile spread on Katie’s narrow face, but it was a sharp, grim expression. Her glasses reflected the glare of at least three computer monitors, all showing the same headline.

_Gas Leak Leads to Building Explosion in Arus; None Harmed_

The article that went along with the headline was largely unimportant, because after some investigation, Katie knew for a fact that it was all a lie. Especially the “none harmed” bit. Over 400 casualties, in reality, but it was an impressive cover-up. She was probably one of only a handful of people to know the truth, if that many.

But it was Katie’s self-assigned job to know the truth. There was no way to find the other Holts without first knowing the truth.

Unfortunately, truth had become a rare commodity. Nine months into the undertaking of finding Matt and Sam Holt, and Katie had found mostly lies. It intrigued her how much of the world was a lie, a front for something uglier behind it.

The government lied about the Holts.

Katie had, at first, believed them. The three people on the Kerberos team were clearly MIA of some sort, and “pilot error” made logical sense (initially). Katie was all about logic.

But then time passed and Katie actually thought about it.

If it was “pilot error” and a crash, where was the plane? Where were the bodies? Where was the mayday report? Where was…well, _everything_?

Mysterious differences didn’t just _happen_ , not without investigation. That left two explanations.

First, that the disappearance wasn’t mysterious. Katie found this somewhat unlikely. The idea that the army and whatever private sponsors would fund a cutting-edge research expedition and then _intentionally_ make the research team disappear was laughably illogical.

That left option two, that there had in fact been an investigation, but for some reason it was being kept quiet. There were thousands of possible reasons for the secrecy but no matter which was accurate, Katie knew that someone, somewhere, had found the Holts. She didn’t actually have to find _the Holts_ (which was a relief, because the concept of finding something that the army had tucked away into their furtive corners was daunting, to say the least). She just had to find the person who knew where the Holts were.

That person _had_ to exist.

They just…had to.

Katie took a deep breath and dove back in to research. This building in Arus, what exactly was being covered up, and at whose command?

Four hours later, Katie had an answer.

Two weeks later, as far as her friends, the city of L.A., and the world governments knew, Katie didn’t even exist anymore. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew done thank fuck who knows when i'll update next these notes are shitty but I am Tired and I just wanted to post I'll be more coherent later


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re Takashi Shirogane, right?” An unfamiliar voice with a posh British accent asked.
> 
> Shiro looked up and saw muscled legs in skinny jeans. And then he looked up some more, into the face of a very tall woman. For someone so tall she looked surprisingly elfin, with small, delicate features, and a cloud of silvery-white hair.
> 
> Shiro had no fucking clue who this woman was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so you may have noticed that I added the slow burn tag and that, my friends, is becaues I have like 20k written right now and it's only like 20% through the story, if that. so yeah, slow burn. like real slow. glacial.
> 
> in other news, it seems like I actually might have a regular posting schedule?? no one get their hopes up but yeah it SEEMS like wednesdays I'll be updating. wow amazing, who even am I
> 
> once again, many thanks to my beta, shiv

Having a superhero for a best friend wasn't quite as exciting as movies and TV shows projected. Or rather, it _was_ that exciting – maybe even _too_ exciting – but the movies and TV shows tended to skim over the gut-wrenching fear that washed over you when you could hear your best friend getting shot at and attacked, but couldn't do anything about it. It was an understandable omission, though. There was nothing glamorous about being unable to breathe while you waited for confirmation that your best friend was alive.

“I'm good, we're good. No more guns pointed at me,” Lance said cheerfully, though Hunk could hear the wobble in it even through the communicators. Still, the vice grip his chest had on his lungs loosened, and Hunk managed to suck in some air. “Okay, well they're still pointed at me, but like the bullets are suspended in ice, so yeah.”

“Good, that's good. You're okay?”

“Yeah, we're all… _chill_ here,” Lance replied.

Hunk knew he wasn't supposed to encourage Lance's awful jokes, he'd actually been scolded once or twice for being an enabler, but he was just relieved that Lance was _alive_. Hunk wanted to always have his best friend around to make terrible jokes and be somehow obnoxiously loud and immensely considerate all at once.

He laughed at the stupid pun.

“Eyy,” Lance crowed, and _god_ , Hunk cringed – he could _hear_ _the snaps_ as Lance made finger guns.

“Who are you even pointing at with your finger guns?” he asked.

“The people I just saved, but I think I'm freaking them out.”

“Maybe because they don't know you're talking to me and not thin air?” Hunk suggested.

“Oh shit,” Lance cursed. The next thing Hunk heard was “I'm not crazy, I promise!”

Hunk chuckled to himself, shaking his head.

Yeah, it was hard sitting in their apartment and listening, unable to help his best friend in the face of danger, but Hunk couldn’t imagine it any other way. Lance’s superpowers sometimes felt like they belonged to Hunk too, just because he’d always been so involved in Lance’s life. They were brothers, for all intents and purposes. He’d grown up next door to Lance and was the first person Lance had told about his powers, the only person besides Lance’s family who knew. And now, he was the only person who knew about the hero gig.

The police scanner crackled, and the string of words that spilled out made Hunk’s eyes widen.

“Hey, Lance, you gotta go, the police are on their way.”

“Aight, thanks, Hunky-Monkey,” said Lance. Hunk snorted, but smiled too. Lance could be...a lot, at times, but he was the greatest best friend Hunk could ask for. He was hilariously fun, he always listened, and he practically oozed affection. “Where to next?”

“Nothing on the scanners, dude. Try wandering around, maybe you’ll spot a mugging?”

“Sounds good, bro. Tempest out.”

Hunk looked down at his workbench again once Lance and the police scanner had fallen silent.

Up until now, he’d just been fiddling with different gadgets that could maybe help Lance, but the truth of it was that Lance’s powers weren’t really conducive to the use of technology. It had been hard enough making the _waterproof_ long-range communicator earpieces they used. High-tech electrical gadgets and water did not mix. But Hunk wanted to do something more than _hypothetically_ help Lance. He wanted to contribute, be a part of it. Sure, he’d helped Lance practice with his powers so that the hero thing was possible, but that was supporting him, not _helping_ him.

Abstract ideas of how he could help slipped away when the police scanner lit up again, but it was just someone calling in that they’d picked up a suspect. Hunk returned to his fiddling, but the feeling of wanting to _really_ help remained, and even as he worked, his mind whirred.

Eventually, the inky black sky lightened to a greyed teal. Hunk put down the things in his hands – pieces of what might someday be a jetpack, so that someday Hunk might actually be able to contribute to the whole hero thing – and stretched, working out the kinks in his back.

“Lance, you gonna come home anytime soon?” asked Hunk.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m actually on my way, already,” replied Lance. “There wasn’t much happening and I need to catch some sleep before class.”

“Same,” Hunk agreed through a yawn. “Okay, see you soon, man.”

“Yup!” came the cheerful response.

Hunk tidied up his workbench, returning tools to their shelves or cases, and sorting through the scraps on the table. Unusable stuff went in the bins to either be melted down and reused or otherwise recycled, while the stuff that was more intact went into a drawer.

The cleaning soothed Hunk’s still-frazzled nerves. He never felt quite calm until Lance actually came home in one piece, but the routine organization of his workbench at the end of Lance’s hero excursions certainly helped.

By the time Lance threw the front door open and shouted his obligatory “Hunky, I’m home!” there was a stack of pancakes on the counter and scrambled eggs sizzling in the pan.

“You want some breakfast, Lance?”

Lance cheered. “Huuuunk, my man, you’re the best.”

“I know.”

 “Bro, I love you. You’re the light of my life, bro,” said Lance dramatically, hand over his heart and everything. 

 “Aww, bro,” Hunk said, grinning. He placed his own hand over his heart. “I love you too, bro.”

“Bro.”

“ _Bro_.”

With wide grins splitting both their faces, they dug into the food. Promptly after they finished, they collapsed onto their beds, with no plans of waking up for at least five hours.  

* * *

Shiro woke up with a start, his mind still reeling. He’d woken up this way for almost a year now, but it was different lately. Good different, he decided, because nightmares sucked, but at least they were only nightmares now.

At one point they’d been his life.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, teetering slightly when they hit the ground. When he was sure he wouldn’t immediately fall over, he took a few unstable steps forward.

The Olkari Labs doctors had told him not to overdo it, but Shiro was tired of sitting in bed with only the medical scientists for company. His doctors _had_ given him permission to walk around. He suspected they’d meant around his room, but hey, they didn’t tell him he _couldn’t_ leave.

And the door opened when he tried it, which was pretty much permission to go where he liked.

At least, Shiro took it as such.

Wide windows lined one side of the hall outside his room, revealing a dense forest and a blue sky. The walls weren’t a pristine hospital white, but a soothing green, patterned like leaves. It was serene, which was a welcome change.

_Grey concrete walls, close together and windowless, the only exit a heavy steel door._

Shiro shook off the image and continued down the hall. 

He could occasionally hear voices through the doors, most of them cheerful. He’d been told this was the medical floor, so probably all the rooms held patients. But he was still unclear on where exactly he was. If he was honest, though, he didn’t particularly care. Anywhere was better than with G.A.L.R.A.

He went up in the elevator, to the top floor. He’d always liked heights – which made his career as a pilot pretty fun – and the building had thirty floors. This floor clearly wasn’t a patient floor, because the layout was completely different. Instead of doors at regular intervals, across from the floor to ceiling windows were wide glass doors leading to large, mostly empty rooms.

Strange.

Still, it was nice being so high up, and the view was soothing. He only wished he knew where the Holts were, if they were okay.

Two hours later, someone finally found him in front of the windows.

“You’re Takashi Shirogane, right?” An unfamiliar voice with a posh British accent asked.

Shiro looked up and saw muscled legs in skinny jeans. And then he looked up some more, into the face of a very tall woman. For someone so tall she looked surprisingly elfin, with small, delicate features, and a cloud of silvery-white hair.

Shiro had no fucking clue who this woman was.

“I go by Shiro, usually,” he said, standing up. He was maybe half an inch taller, which put her at around six feet tall.

“And I’m Allura Ahadi. Please call me Allura.”

Allura offered her hand to shake. Shiro reached out to take it, only remembering halfway there that his right arm was now a metal prosthetic. He froze with his hand about six inches from Allura’s.

Understanding flashed across her face and she dropped her hand, continuing the conversation. Shiro dropped his hand too, flexing then clenching the metal fingers.

“It’s nice to meet you, Shiro. I have an offer for you, if you’d like to hear it. A few questions, too.”

“What sort of offer?” asked Shiro.

Allura smiled slightly.

“I suppose you could call it a job offer. But it’s more than that, too. It’ll make more sense once I’ve explained.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Do you know where you are, Shiro? Not in like a broad sense, they won’t have told you the country, but do you know what this building is?”

“They told me it was called Olkari Labs, which is something I’ve never heard of.”

“You’re not supposed to have heard of it. Olkari Labs was a division of an organization founded by my father, called the Arcane League for Talents of Extraordinary Ability. A.L.T.E.A. no longer exists, due to a betrayal from someone who was once loyal to the organization’s goals. But when it still existed, it was an organization dedicated to optimizing the lives of those with extraordinary abilities. Such as yourself, if the doctors have informed me correctly.”

Shiro tried to keep a neutral face, but found himself pretty goddamn surprised.

“An organization for people with superpowers?” he asked.

Allura grinned.

“Well, we try to avoid calling them _superpowers_ , it gives off very specific implications that don’t always apply. Some people with these abilities have no desire to be heroes or do anything except live their lives in peace.”

“But this A.L.T.E.A., it was for people with powers?”

“Yes, it was. We did many things, from teaching control over powers to researching the origins of these powers to finding applications for powers that might change the world for the better.”

“That’s quite the sales pitch,” Shiro said, somewhat impressed and largely skeptical.

“Sorry,” Allura said quickly. “I used to be…a recruiter, of sorts, for A.L.T.E.A. I have a lot of speeches like this memorized, and I tend to get carried away.”

Shiro shrugged dismissively.

“It’s fine. Go on.”

“Right. Well, A.L.T.E.A. was once a place of refuge for those with abilities, and we aimed to make the existence of such abilities a benefit to the world without causing the sort of mayhem often associated with the appearance of a strange new ilk of people. Now A.L.T.E.A. has more or less fallen apart with the destruction of our headquarters, since an enterprise as widespread and complex as this is hard to pull off without the structure provided by a central command. Many of our divisions still stand and operate, but the larger functions of A.L.T.E.A. – like finding and then rescuing or recruiting new talents – have more or less ceased.”

Allura seemed sad – a bit less cheerful, but no less passionate – talking about the fall of A.L.T.E.A. Shiro found himself tentatively believing her story.

“It will take…years, probably, to rebuild what we’ve lost, and the lives that were taken when headquarters fell are tragic losses. My father is among them. Now all that’s left of A.L.T.E.A.’s chain of command is myself and my father’s right-hand man, Coran Smythe. We know who was behind this attack and it’s the same person who is responsible for your suffering. His name is Zarkon.”

_A flare of purple light, cold eyes watching as he screamed, the glint of pointed teeth._

Shiro gave himself a mental shake.

“I see you recognize the name,” said Allura quietly. “Zarkon was once high in the chain of command at A.L.T.E.A. but he betrayed us and has now founded the G.A.L.R.A., and works toward very different goals, as far as we can tell.”

“No kidding,” Shiro muttered.

“So we come to the job offer, then. I believe it is of the utmost importance that we prevent Zarkon from achieving his goals. I would like your assistance. Well, actually, I rather require it, to a certain extent.” Allura smiled sheepishly, but her eyes betrayed some hopefulness.

“You have a secret organization of people with powers and you want _me_ to help you take down Zarkon?”

“Yes.”

“ _Why_?” Shiro asked. “Why me?”

“Well, Shiro, to be honest, we know very little about Zarkon’s organization, this… G.A.L.R.A. and you have been inside of it, involved with it. Coran and I have a good idea of what he wants but in order to stop him we need to know what he’s doing and you have that information.”

“Didn’t the doctors tell you? I can’t remember my time with the G.A.L.R.A. Not properly, anyway. I get…flashes…but I’m not ‘consciously aware of what transpired’,” Shiro explained, crossing his arms and trying to ignore the feel of metal against the palm of his left hand.

“Yes, they did tell me. I have…well, not a solution. More of a workaround. I’m a fairly powerful psychic and one of my abilities is telepathy. With your permission, I can look in your memories for information on Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A. and that could also trigger your own recollection of events.”

Shiro frowned.

“You want to read my mind?” he asked slowly, his instincts shrieking at him to run from this woman who had asked to invade his thoughts as casually as she might ask to borrow a book.

“Yes. I won’t without your permission, since that could go very badly for the both of us, but it would be immensely helpful.”

“You need my permission?” Shiro highly, highly doubted permission was necessary. He had a suspicion others had already been in his head, leaving behind the memory loss and a sick feeling to go with his metal arm. He wouldn’t have agreed to that.

At least, he didn’t think so.

“Well…no, I don’t need permission, per se,” Allura admitted. “Technically what I need is for you to open your mind to me. A strong mind can resist a telepathic connection by closing itself off and it might take conscious effort for you to let me in. So in that sense, I don’t need _permission_ so much as cooperation.”

 “And if I do this, then what?”

“That depends on what we find out, but hopefully your memories will give us some insight into what Zarkon is doing and how he intends to achieve his goals. Then, assuming you accept my offer, we do our best to combat his actions and hinder his plans.”

“I have to admit, I’m not sure I can trust you,” Shiro said, carefully watching Allura for a reaction.

She barely flinched but the hope in her eyes dimmed a little.

“That’s understandable. You don’t have much reason to trust me. But these facilities you’ve been staying at, and the doctors who’ve been helping you, they know me. They will vouch for me. That’s the best I can offer.”

“Alright. I’d like for us to talk to Dr. Ryner, then. She’s the one who’s been treating me.”

“Very well.”

The walk back to his room was silent, though more from contemplation than awkwardness. Shiro was running through the possibilities as quickly as he could. Allura could be trustworthy, or not. There were, honestly, many more scenarios in which she wasn’t, but the fact was in most of those scenarios he was at her mercy anyway. Besides, he didn’t really mind giving up information on the G.A.L.R.A. He didn’t have many secrets besides those of the Kerberos Team.

Those secrets needed protection.

“Please fetch Dr. Ryner,” Allura said to a nurse in the hall, interrupting Shiro’s speculation. “Tell her I’ll be in Mr. Shirogane’s room and we would like to speak to her.”

“Yes, Ms. Ahadi, right away.”

Allura held the door open and Shiro walked through to his room. Looking around, Shiro could admit it was a nice room, cozy even with all the machinery.

He sat on a chair instead of the bed, and his legs immediately ached. Shiro nearly whimpered. Yeah, he’d definitely been in bed for too long.

“So how do I know you won’t root around for other things while you’re in my mind?” he asked Allura, who was settling on another chair.

She seemed almost amused.

“Well, I suppose you don’t, but in some senses you can control what I see. It often takes practice to close off your mind, but what I’m aiming for is the part of your mind that’s blocked off from the rest. Your memory loss might be caused by another psychic or it could be traumatic, but either way it’ll be obvious to me where to look.”

“So I just have to trust you?” Shiro asked, liking the prospect less and less.

“Yes. But…if it’s the Kerberos Research that you’re worried about, you needn’t.”

The door opened and Dr. Ryner entered, but Allura continued.

“Everyone at A.L.T.E.A. knows of the existence of ultragenes. Baku Gardens, the intended destination for you and the Holts, is another division of A.L.T.E.A. You may not remember but I mentioned that A.L.T.E.A. researches the origin of extraordinary abilities, and the Baku Gardens are where the majority of that research takes place.”

“Indeed they are,” Dr. Ryner chimed in. “Olkari Labs focuses on innovative uses of powers, especially in regards to medicine, though we have a few technopaths who have performed extraordinary feats of engineering. But that is why you were brought here and not to a regular hospital. You had suffered psychically as well as physiologically and no place was better equipped to help you than we were.”

“I see. So I take it you _do_ know Allura?”

Dr. Ryner’s round, dark eyes sparkled with laughter as she looked to Allura.

“Well, I must say she’s changed quite a bit since we last met in person. You were, oh, fifteen?”

“Sixteen,” Allura corrected, smiling.

“Of course. But yes, Shiro, I certainly do know Allura. Her father, Alfor, founded A.L.T.E.A. and personally recruited me to head the medical research at Olkari Labs.”

“She asked to look at my missing memories.”

“Yes, I suspected as much.” She turned to Allura. “So it’s true? This… G.A.L.R.A. that Shiro has been speaking of, they’re behind the attack? _Zarkon_ is behind the attack?”

“It’s true.”

“Dear god,” Dr. Ryner murmured. “Who knows?”

“Officially? Just Coran and I. Now you as well. Coran has plans to make an announcement once we get slightly more information, hence our trip here.”

“Coran is here as well? I’d like to speak with him.”

“Yes. I believe he’s upstairs with Dr. Lubos. Actually, would you mind bringing him here? He should meet Shiro.”

“I will bring him,” Dr. Ryner agreed. “I’ll be back. And Shiro, all results indicate we should be able to fit you with a new, lighter arm. It’ll take us a day to manufacture it, and if you have any preferences as to design or any nonstandard functions, please let me know.”

“Thank you, Dr. Ryner,” Shiro said, feeling sincerely grateful. Despite his memory loss he had the distinct sensation of having blood on his right hand.  

Silence fell again when the door shut behind the doctor.

“So is Dr. Ryner’s word enough?” Allura asked, her hesitance obvious. “I wish I could provide you with insight into my mind to reassure you, but that’s not how my telepathy works.”

“Honestly,” Shiro said. “I don’t know if I can trust you or not, but if you know about Kerberos I really don’t have much to hide. So yeah, sure. Go ahead. I’ll cooperate.”

Allura smiled, bright with relief.

“I can’t thank you enough, Shiro. Your experience, your time with the G.A.L.R.A., it’s invaluable.”

“I hope you’re right,” Shiro murmured. Then, louder, “So how do we do this? I just…open my mind? Will I feel you in my mind?”

“Yes, you will be able to tell that I’m in your mind. All you have to do is to close your eyes and attempt to think of what I’m looking for. I know you don’t remember, but your attempts to access the memories will facilitate mine.”

A pause. Shiro stared at Allura and wondered if he was supposed to follow those instructions immediately. His skin crawled at the thought of letting her read his mind.

“Would it make you more comfortable if we waited for Dr. Ryner to return with Coran?” Allura asked, finally breaking the silence.

Shiro raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was that astute or if she could somehow tell was thinking without his permission as well.

“Yes, thank you. That would make me more comfortable.”

“Very well. In the meantime, would you like to hear more about my powers and how they work?”

“Sure.”

By the time Dr. Ryner returned with an orange-haired man who Shiro assumed was Coran, Allura had described her various powers – telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, along with dream-walking and astral projection.

“You can control people’s dreams?” Shiro asked incredulously, just as the door opened.

Everyone but him laughed a bit.

“My dear boy,” the man said, his bushy mustache twitching with his smile, “the human mind is complex. No one can truly control it.” He had an accent that was either Australian or New Zealander, but Shiro didn’t know enough to tell the difference.

“Coran is right. I don’t control anything. Dream-walking is more like…my mind communicating with another’s while we’re both asleep. It only ever happens when I’m close to people.”

“Yes, Allura and I have had some quite interesting conversations while asleep!” Coran chirped. “Why, once we had a lengthy discussion about the harvest of a mineral from the belly of a space worm called a weblum! Imagine that! We awoke very amused at ourselves.”

Shiro stared at him, stunned by his demeanor.

“Oh, my apologies! I am Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe, and I used to be the Assistant Director of A.L.T.E.A.” Coran actually bowed, complete with a flourish, and Shiro almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. Maybe he was still with the G.A.L.R.A. and this was just a convoluted hallucination.

“Nice to meet you,” was what he chose to say aloud. “I’m—”

“Takashi Shirogane, pilot with the United States Airforce, assigned to the Kerberos Team to study ultragenes. Yes, I’m aware! What a resume!”

“Um. Thanks.” Shiro said. “I go by Shiro.”

“Excellent. And Allura has filled you in on our goals?”

“Yes.”

“Wonderful!” Coran, to Shiro’s bemusement, twirled his mustache. “What have we learned, then?”

“I haven’t tried to access his memories yet, Coran.”

“Oh! Then by all means, proceed!”

Allura made eye contact with Shiro, whose skin began crawling again at her expectant look. With a glance at Dr. Ryner, who seemed wholly unfazed, he closed his eyes.

“Start with the last thing you remember. It may help for you to describe aloud what you do recall, but that’s up to you,” Allura instructed.

Shiro took a deep breath and reached into the recesses of his mind for memories he’d, quite honestly, been happy to ignore.

_Ocean waves bounced light along them. Their plane was low in the air, only dozens of feet above the expanse of water._

_“We’re almost there!” Matt said, bouncing on his heels. He’d already strapped on his parachute. “Isn’t this exciting, Shiro? An underwater research facility!”_

_“It’s pretty cool, but I think you guys get a little more excited about research than I do,” Shiro replied, amused and mostly focused on his navigational systems._

_“This is history in the making,” Sam interjected._

_“Just think of it, Dad,” Matt started again. “We could actually begin to trace the origins of powers and how ultragenes cause their development.”_

_“My life’s work would be complete,” Sam said, his gaze far-off and a bit glassy._

_A loud noise rang out and the plane jolted suddenly and Shiro’s smile fell off his face._

_“What was that?” Sam asked._

_Another loud bang, and Shiro realized it was gunfire._

His memories stalled after that.

“What happened next?” Allura prompted gently.

_Impact. Water splashing against the plane’s exterior. Matt and Sam had been thrown about the plane. They were out cold. Shiro was awake. Someone entered the sinking plane. They addressed someone named Zarkon._

_“…primitives…druids…what they know…”_

_Blackness._

“Then what, Shiro?” Allura asked.

_A white-haired woman with a sadistic grin. A cold metal surface. Pain. Then, less pain._

_“…interesting…enhanced…dormant…”_

_Even more pain._

_Then, less._

_“…the Blade…modification…Zarkon’s approval…”_

_Pain again. Still surprising in its intensity._

_“…physical healing…extraordinary…”_

_Pain beyond words. White-hot pain, blinding. His throat was raw from screaming._

_He was screaming._

He was screaming.

So was Allura.

Shiro’s eyes flew open. Dazed, it took him a moment to process the scene in front of him. He was still in his chair, though both arms of the chair had splintered in his grip, the right somewhat worse than the left. Allura was on the floor, clutching her head. Coran was hovering over her nervously, as was Dr. Ryner, though she came to him immediately upon seeing his eyes open.

Allura had stopped screaming.

“Are you alright, Shiro?” Dr. Ryner asked.

“I…yeah. I’m okay.” He carefully let go of the ruined chair. “Is Allura?”

“She is,” Dr. Ryner confirmed. “Unfortunately, her telepathy has the tendency to bleed into empathy when she is deep in someone else’s mind. She was, albeit momentarily, experiencing the pain you remembered feeling.”

“Oh,” Shiro said. He felt his stomach twist with guilt as Coran helped Allura off the floor and back into her chair. “I’m sorry,” he added.

“It’s not your fault, Shiro,” she said firmly, though she was hunched over in the chair, looking much more fragile than she had before. “I should have anticipated this. Such intense memories are...draining. It seems as we might have to do short sessions. But perhaps I can also help you unlock the memories for yourself. _Not_ —” she clarified, upon seeing what must have been horror on his face— “not now. Later, maybe. For now we should discuss what I did see. That woman, with the white hair, do you know her?”

“No. They called her The Witch, I think? I never caught a name.” Honestly, he’d only remembered that much just now.

“I see. She appears to be a very powerful telepath. I don’t know if you noticed, but not all the pain you were feeling was tangible. It seems she was entering your mind and causing you psychosomatic pain, which is something I am not capable of. Very few are. She is exceptionally strong.”

“She was there often. I think. Her face is…vivid,” Shiro said, more to himself than to Allura.

“I will check our records, if you could provide a physical description,” Coran said. Allura gave the description. Coran frowned and tugged at his mustache. “I see.”

“This _is_ a good start, Shiro, don’t let this put you off. I know reliving your memories may be painful, for us both, it seems, but it may be necessary.”

“I…well, I can’t say I’m eager to relive them but if Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A. did this to me, I can only imagine what their goals are and what they might do to achieve them. I’m in, for whatever you’re planning. I want to stop them. I want to find Matt and Sam.”

“Thank you, Shiro,” Allura said. “We need all the help we can get, to be honest. We’ve recently authorized the resources from many of our projects to now be devoted solely to fighting Zarkon, but we need people on our side. We lost too many already with Zarkon’s attack on our headquarters. I have a few people I’ve been thinking of recruiting. One in particular seems promising – interested in A.L.T.E.A., smart, and very much invested in opposing Zarkon, but…Zarkon has had the time to plan and build his ranks, and we’re just now entering the fight.”

Allura let out a sigh, followed immediately by her eye’s flicking to Shiro. He smiled reassuringly, getting the feeling she hadn’t meant to let all that slip.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to find more people to help,” Shiro said, trying to be comforting. The flash in Allura’s eyes told him she hadn’t taken it that way.

“Like who?” Allura snapped. “Most of the people who were willing to do such work for A.L.T.E.A. were killed, and the rest are too young. Unless you have a supply of people with skills and abilities that would be able and willing to help us, we’re out of luck.”

Shiro smiled, and suddenly felt better than he had all day. Better than he’d felt in months.

“Actually, I do know one person we could contact.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come find me on tumblr, iamimmutable.tumblr.com


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, that’s not the way out!” Lance shouted. The person kept running. Lance cursed and chased after them. He couldn’t quite keep up, because the fires around them seemed to almost duck out of the way for the person running, but flare up when Lance tried to pass through. He almost lost track of the person because he had to focus on not running literally into the fires. The heat was making him sweat, and Lance was panting by the time the person ahead of him reached the stairs and, to Lance’s shock, jumped up, spurted goddamn fire out of their hands like a rocket, and actually flew up to the top landing.
> 
>  
> 
> What. The _fuck _.__

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two hours before the end of the day heck yeah
> 
> as always, thanks to my beta, shiv
> 
> also if you spot grammar errors in my story ever pls lmk they Bother me
> 
> here we go. they Meet

It had taken him two weeks – _way too long_ – but Keith had finally figured out enough about the LA Air Force Space and Missile Center Human Resources to plan his break in. He’d had the basic plan – blow up some shit and break in while everyone was evacuating – ready from the moment he’d had the idea. The plan was straightforward and simple.

In theory.

In practice, Keith knew he’d need more than a little luck to pull this off.

Standing on the roof of a nearby parking structure, he checked himself to make sure he had everything. Knife? Check, he never left home without it. Explosive powders in his utility belt? Check, and thank you google for the formulas. Bandana to hide at least part of his face and hopefully filter out some smoke? Check.

Any idea what the _fuck_ he was doing?

Decidedly _not_ check.

Still, his options were limited. Keith steeled himself with a deep breath and made his way – quickly, but carefully – towards his target building. He set a lot of small fires in circles around piles of powder, creating makeshift firebombs. He’d scout the building out a bit and then set them off when he was ready to go in.

Ten minutes later he was as ready as he’d ever be. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the twelve sources of fire he could sense even from a distance. He inhaled and the fires heated. He exhaled and they flared up.

Several loud bangs went off and Keith took another breath, picturing the fires spreading onto anything flammable in the vicinity. He could feel the tendrils of heat creeping across the ground and devouring whatever fuel they found.

Having freaky fire abilities came in handy at times.

It took a lot of concentration and he developed a massive headache, but he managed to make the fires climb the outsides of his target building, until they found some way in through the vents. Then he didn’t even have to do much, the fires were perpetuating themselves and alarms screeched in the night.

People ran from the building, stumbling over themselves in their rush to get out. Those people who’d already been outside, investigating the remains of his fire bombs, directed the desperate flow of people fleeing the fires.

Keith took another long, deep breath. Inhaled, the fire heated up. Exhaled, the fire spread.

The building was truly ablaze now, and seemed empty, which was Keith’s cue to slip inside. Wherever he encountered fire, he swept it aside with a thought and the wave of a hand. His strange control over fire didn’t stop it from burning him.

The biggest offices would probably belong to more important people with higher clearance. Keith tried those first. But numbers one through six were a bust – computers powered down, no paper files. When five minutes had passed with no success, he got nervous. He needed to be long gone when the authorities showed up.

The seventh room had paper files but nothing on the Kerberos Team or Shiro.

Keith gritted his teeth and took another deep breath, feeling the fires blaze in response to his anger.

The eighth through eighteenth rooms were also useless. Keith started to wonder if this had all been for nothing.

But room nineteen had a computer that was still logged on.

“Thank god,” Keith muttered, opening up the file browser. It took him roughly two minutes, but he concluded that there was no personnel file on Shiro. He let out an agitated growl.

Suddenly, he sensed some of his fires go out. The firefighters had arrived.

Shit. He needed more _time_.

Keith hadn’t come here with the intent to destroy government property, but he wasn’t specifically against it, either. So he closed his eyes and took three deep breaths. When he opened his eyes again, the fires were billowing pillars, stretching fingers into the night sky. The smoke thickened and Keith hoped the firefighters knew not to enter the building. He wasn’t sure he’d really be able to sense where they were and he definitely didn’t want them getting hurt.

He scrolled through the computer’s files again, debating trying his luck in another room, when a folder name caught his eye. _Genetic Research_. It was probably a long shot, but he figured he’d better check, just in case. The Kerberos Team had been researching ultragenes.

Sure enough, there was a subfolder called _Project Kerberos_.

Relieved, Keith clicked in, only to find that all the files were password protected except one.

“Fuck,” he swore aloud. He kicked himself for not thinking to bring a goddamn USB stick. He opened the only unsecured file, _Project Kerberos Update_. “In collaboration with the National Institutes of Health… yeah, yeah, what’s the update _about_?” Keith murmured as he read the PDF. His eyes got progressively wider as he read through the file.

Okay, so, wow. Keith felt himself going through a revelation in that office. He _knew_ Shiro’s disappearance wasn’t “pilot error”. But his mind was reeling with information and the implications of his newfound knowledge.

New facts. First, Shiro’s plane had been _shot_ _down_. Pilot error Keith’s fucking ass. They’d apparently recovered the remains of the plane and it had bullet holes, as well as marks that made it look like sections of the plane had been pried apart by someone’s _bare_ _hands_.

Holy fuck.

Second, the official statues of the research team wasn’t missing. Keith felt both vindication and dread when he read _Status: Abducted_.

Third, there was…already a paper published called _Ultragenes in Bioluminescent Deep Sea Creatures_? It threw Keith for a loop before he read through that paragraph carefully. The deep sea creatures paper was just a front. They’d had to give the public a good excuse for what they were doing, and apparently the deep sea creatures paper was some old research conducted by Sam Holt.

That brought Keith to the fourth, and most shocking, new fact. The real goal of the Kerberos Research Team had been to travel to an _underwater facility_ to conduct research on ultragenes in _human subjects_ that possessed what the document called “extraordinary abilities”.

Keith wasn’t sure if he was jumping to conclusions but it sounded like Shiro had been piloting – and apparently also playing bodyguard? – for a research team that was looking into the _genetic cause of superpowers_.

Holy. _FUCK_.

Keith stared for a few moments longer, just to make sure he hadn’t misread anything. He wished again that he’d thought to bring a USB stick. Then, he felt several of his fires go out at once and figured that was his cue to leave. He closed everything he’d opened on the computer, then made for the roof so he could blast himself away from the scene of his crime. Smoke stung his eyes and he coughed a few times before he made it to open air.

* * *

Lance loved the feeling of the wind on his face as he surfed around LA. No one else got to experience LA quite like he did: water carrying him over rooftops and sometimes taking him up to sixty or seventy miles per hour. Hunk measured once.

“Hey, man, you find anything?” asked Hunk. Lance shook his head, then remembered that Hunk couldn’t actually see him through the communicators.

“Nah, nothing yet. You?”

“I think so? Police said something about a fire?”

“That’s great!” Lance chirped, then immediately winced. “Well, not _great_ , like I don’t want anyone getting hurt, but the firefighters love me!”

“I know, I figured you’d want to go help out,” Hunk said, graciously ignoring Lance’s poor choice of words. “It’s at the Air Force Space and Missile Center Human Resources.”

“The…wow. Do…do you think we know anyone who’d be there?” Lance asked quietly.

“I don’t know,” Hunk replied, not comforting Lance at all. “I hope everyone’ll get out okay.”

“They totally will,” Lance said reassuringly. “I’ll be there to save the day soon! Directions?”

Soon turned out to be about ten minutes, at his top speed. Lance’s face felt chapped and dry by the time he got to the fire. He knew he’d need to really moisturize to make up for it. Had to keep his golden skin nice and smooth.

“Shit, this fire’s gigantic,” Lance said.

“Be careful,” said Hunk nervously.

“Yeah, big guy.”

The building was only a few stories high, but the fire billowed out of the windows and reached dozens of feet into the sky. There were three firetrucks, all of them spraying water from huge hoses onto the burning building, but not having much of an effect. Lance had fought quite a few fires since he’d started the hero gig, but this one was strangely big for the size of the building. There must have been something super flammable inside.

“Whassup, Tempest is here to save your asses,” he called, dropping down next to a few firefighters. The firefighters, bless them, smiled when they saw him.

Way better than the police.

“Tempest, hey, nice to see ya, man,” one of them said, and Lance recognized the voice.

“Tony!” Lance reached out and clapped the bulky man on the shoulder. “What’s the deal with this fire, bro? Big, isn’t it?” He nodded and grinned at a few others he knew – Mike, Nina, Omar. He winked at Shawn, who was around his age, very cute, and very fit.  

“Yeah, it’s weird. Hard to put out, too. We figured there must be some fuel source inside.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Lance said. He crossed his arms. “Is everyone out?”

“Honestly, we haven’t been able to go in,” Shawn chimed it. “The building supports seem okay, there’s just way too much fire. And it’s _hot_. The suits wouldn’t take it.”

“No worries, I got this,” Lance said confidently. He puffed up his chest a bit and smiled winningly. “I’ll check the building.”

“It’s dangerous, no one should go in,” Shawn protested, and Tony nodded agreement.

“Aw, Shawn, you sound worried. All for little old me?” Lance said, pointedly winking at Shawn. Shawn flushed and Tony guffawed.

“Like I said, it’s dangerous,” Shawn said, crossing his arms. His face was still visibly red. “You should take a mask, at least.” 

“I’ll be fine. As long as you guys let me borrow your water, I can handle it.”

“You sure?” Hunk’s voice came over the comms, just as Tony was asking the same question.

“I’m sure,” Lance said to them both. “But first, let me try The Blanket, maybe we can suffocate some of this fire.”

The Blanket was what had made Lance so popular with the firefighters to begin with. He took a deep breath and raised his arms, drawing his hands towards his chest over and over again, until a large blob of water from the hoses had gathered in front of him. Then, he changed motions, and with flat palms facing downward, extended his arms away from his chest. The hovering blob of water flattened into a sheet. Lance mimicked picking up the sheet and laying it down, like it was an actual sheet of fabric and he was making his bed. The water settled over the building and immediately some of the fires went out.

More of the fires flared up and burned away the coating of water.

That was unusual.

Lance frowned and repeated the whole thing, laying another blanket of water over the building. Even fewer fires went out this time.

“Weird,” Lance muttered.

“Doesn’t that usually work?” Tony asked.

“Yeah,” Lance said with a shrug. “Usually it does.” He tried once more, drawing even more water from the hoses and creating a sheet almost a foot thick. This one worked better, suffocating most of the fires.

The firefighters cheered.

“Alright, I’m going in,” Lance declared. “Top or bottom first?”

“Top,” Tony said. “We’ll start at the bottom.”

“Aye-aye, Cap’n!” Lance said with a two-fingered salute. He gave Shawn another wink and was rewarded with another blush before he jetted himself onto the roof of the building.

The smoke was thick above the building and Lance coughed several times, his eyes watering and stinging. He took some water from the firefighters’ hoses and used it to sweep away some smoke. The door into the building was locked, so Lance froze the hinges and then shattered them. The door fell to the ground. Smoke billowed out of the doorway and Lance coughed a few times more.

“Ugh, this smoke,” he complained.

“You okay?” Hunk asked.

Lance started. He’d forgotten Hunk was there.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he reassured Hunk. “Just need to flood the place, apparently.”

“You should’ve taken a mask.”

“Nah, this is, like, multitasking. Clearing smoke _and_ putting out fires.”

“I’m pretty sure fire and water will just make _more smoke_ , Lance.”

“Nah, it’ll work. Who needs physics when you have superpowers?”

“Um, you? It’s kinda necessary for like…your entire major and life goals.”

“Shh, Hunk, I’m busy. No time for your negativity.”

“You mean my _realism_?”

“ _Shhhhh_.”  

He made more pulling motions, redirecting a stream of water directly into the open door so he could flush the smoke out with a wave of water. It worked. But not very well. He wasn’t going to tell Hunk that, though. It’d set a bad precedent.

He followed the water down the stairs and into the building.

As he looked through the top floor, he put out all the fires he found and recollected as much water vapor from the air as he could. It wasn’t much, though, the fire had burned most moisture away. On the next floor down he spotted someone halfway through his search, though they were obscured by the smoke. They were standing – running, actually – which Lance figured was a good sign.

“Hey, are you okay?” he called. The figure practically jumped. Lance made to run over but a fire flared up between them. One Lance was sure he’d just put out. He scowled and put it out again. “I’m here to get you out,” he tried again. “I’m Tempest, and I’m a hero. I have cool water powers. You can trust me, firefighting is my specialty, for obvious reasons…”

The figure, who Lance could only see well enough to know had dark hair and something weird on their face, turned and _ran_ _away_.

From Lance, who was trying to _save them_.

“Hey, that’s not the way out!” Lance shouted. The person kept running. Lance cursed and chased after them. He couldn’t quite keep up, because the fires around them seemed to almost duck out of the way for the person running, but flare up when Lance tried to pass through. He almost lost track of the person because he had to focus on not running literally into the fires. The heat was making him sweat, and Lance was panting by the time the person ahead of him reached the stairs and, to Lance’s shock, jumped up, spurted goddamn fire out of their hands like a _rocket_ , and actually _flew_ up to the top landing.

What. The _fuck_.

“What the fuck?!” Lance yelped.

“What? What happened are you okay? Did you get burned? Did a section of the building collapse?” Hunk asked immediately. “That happens in fires, like all the time. Are you trapped? Oh, god, Lance, are you trapped inside?! Are you _hurt_?!”

“I’m not hurt. I’m just…what the fuck. Someone just spewed fire out of their hands and took off like a fucking _rocket_. I saw it with my own two eyes!”

“…Are you sure you haven’t just inhaled too much smoke?”

“Yeah, Hunk, I’m sure,” Lance insisted, somewhat offended. “It happened like right in front of me. Also I’m pretty sure smoke doesn’t cause hallucinations.” He propelled himself upward with a jet of water, beginning pursuit of this apparently super-arsonist? The arsonist to rule them all? A _super_ - _pyro_.

Anyway. Lance went after the person.

“You never know, man,” Hunk said, but Lance was ignoring him in favor of chasing the person through the top floor. It was easier without the flames blocking the path, but the person was still fast and Lance was overheating. Still, his long legs and ROTC training paid off and Lance had almost caught up by the time they both burst onto the roof.

And up there Lance could see clearly, which, ironically, made things much more confusing. 

“No way!” Lance exclaimed, unable to help himself.

“What, what is it?” Hunk demanded nervously.

“It’s Keith!” Lance hissed.

“Keith? Kogane? Are you sure?” Hunk asked skeptically.

“Oh, I’d recognize that mullet anywhere,” Lance said with a scowl.

Hunk muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “you _see_ that mullet everywhere” but Lance was too busy gaping at his former classmate to pay Hunk’s ridiculous accusations any attention. They didn’t deserve his attention anyway.

Keith blasted off like a rocket again, flying into the sky through the smoke. Lance gathered some more water from the hoses and jetted after him.

It quickly became the weirdest chase Lance had ever seen, heard of, or been involved in. He was after Keith, a guy who had until pretty recently attended Lance’s school, been in half of his classes, and, to top it off, been in ROTC with him and Hunk. Oh, and he had fire powers that allowed him to shoot into the sky using his hands as blasters.

Yeah, that too.

Keith couldn’t go much faster than Lance, and light from the _fire shooting out of his hands_ gave him away, so Lance felt confident enough to follow from a distance and occasionally duck behind or under something when Keith glanced back. Soon enough, his strategy paid off, because Keith seemed to think he’d lost Lance and stopped glancing back.

He eventually landed on the roof of a house not far from Lance’s place and Lance surfed to a stop on the house behind it, ducking behind a chimney for cover. Keith entered the house – more of a shack, really – and Lance, after a moment, leapt to the ground and prepared to follow him in.

“Hunk, I am about to follow Keith into a creepy, run-down shack, I may need back up. Track me?”

“This is a bad idea.”

“For someone who’s best friends with a superhero, you don’t have much of a sense of adventure, Hunk.”

“All of your little adventures end up with one of us in the hospital.”

“See you soon! Oh and bring my face cream please, my skin feels like sandpaper.”

“If you end up in the hospital again, I’m not bringing you a single get-well brownie,” Hunk grumbled. Lance ignored him – Hunk couldn’t resist making get-well brownies anyways – and crept up to the shack.

He’d barely made it in the open door when he found himself on his back and he let out a grunt at the impact. Keith was pinning him to the floor, his full face now revealed because the bandana that had been covering half of it was pulled down.

“I heard you say my name back there. Who are you?” Keith demanded, all but ripping off Lance’s mask. His face was just as pretty as Lance remembered it, smooth and sharp, marred only by his dark glare.

“Who am I?” Lance asked incredulously. “Uh, the name’s Lance?”

No recognition.

“We were in a bunch of classes together?”

“Oh. Are you an engineer?”

“What? I’m aerospace, dude! C’mon, we were in ROTC together! We were, like, rivals. You know…Lance and Keith, neck and neck.”

Keith’s glare lightened just a bit.

“Oh. I remember you. You didn’t get the four-year scholarship.”

Lance scowled, stung.

“Well, I got it now, thanks to you washing out.”

“Well, congratulations,” Keith said flatly, getting off Lance and allowing him to stand. “Why’d you follow me?”

“Uh, gee, I don’t know, maybe because I thought you were trapped in a burning building but then you lifted off like a rocket, shooting fire out of your hands, and—ohmygod, did you _set_ that building on fire?!”

Keith didn’t respond, but Lance took the return of the dark glare to mean that yes, one of his ex-classmates had committed arson, on an Air Force building, too.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Lance asked.

Keith rolled his eyes. The lull in the conversation stretched out and Lance took the opportunity to glance around. The house – shack – was small and from his spot Lance could see a tiny kitchen and the bare drawing room. There was a sofa that looked like it probably doubled as a bed, and a shitty old coffee table. One lamp, which Keith flicked on when he saw Lance looking at it. It was only then that Lance noticed the full-on conspiracy board hanging on the wall.

“Whoa, what’s that?” Lance spotted a picture of a familiar face. “Is that Takashi Shirogane? The pilot of the Kerberos Team? That guy’s my hero!” And his crush, once upon a time, but Keith didn’t need to know that.

“Shiro?” Hunk asked through the comms. “What’s this about Shiro?”

“What’s all this about Shiro?” Lance repeated to Keith.

“I’m going to find him.”

“Find him? I thought he—”

“He’s alive,” Keith said firmly.

“Okay. He’s alive. And you’re trying to find him.”

“Wow. Guess he’s not dead after all,” Hunk muttered, giving Lance an idea.  

“Yo, Hunk,” Lance crowed. “C’mere. You gotta see all this stuff Keith has.”

“Man, I’ve been _dying_ to be there since you realized it was Keith. Like, _what_? Keith? _Fire powers_? I’m so on my way,” Hunk said into the comms.

Keith was staring at Lance, looking confused.

Lance tapped his ear.

“Communicator. My best friend Hunk is on the other end. And if you’re—” he glanced at the board and read a few of the notes pinned there—“trying to figure out what happened to Shiro, we can totally help.”

“I don’t need help,” Keith said. Lance grinned. So he’d guessed right.

“C’mon, I’m here already. And I’ve got awesome water powers.”

“They’re not that awesome.”

“Uh, they totally beat yours, so, yeah, they are,” Lance insisted.

“How do they beat mine?” Keith asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

“Water puts out fires, dude. Ergo, I win.”

Keith scoffed.

“Win what? The freak competition?”

“Whoa, hey, I’m a hero, not a freak. _Rude_.”

“A hero. Right.”

Lance felt himself getting annoyed. He’d done his best to help people once he’d developed control over his powers. He _was_ a hero. At least, he was _trying_ to be.

“I _am_.”

“Is that why you called yourself Tempest?”

“Yeah, it’s the name of my superhero identity,” Lance said proudly.

“It’s stupid,” Keith said frankly.

“ _You’re_ stupid!” Lance snapped.

“I see you two are getting along,” Hunk interrupted, stepping through the front door. “Sup, man, I’m Hunk,” he said to Keith with his classic warm and friendly smile.

“Yeah, I remember you,” Keith replied, shaking Hunk’s hand.

Lance’s jaw dropped.

“You remember Hunk but not me? I was the one in a bunch of classes with you!”

“I already said I remembered you.”

“Yeah, after I told you who I was!”

“Does it matter?” Keith asked. Lance opened his mouth to say “yes, of _course_ it _matters_ ” but snapped his jaw shut before the words could escape. It _shouldn’t_ matter.

“No,” he gritted out. Hunk eyed him suspiciously, but Keith just rolled his eyes again. “ _Anyway_ , we’re both here now, and we want to help, right, Hunk?”

Hunk looked up from examining Keith’s conspiracy board.

“Yeah, man, definitely. Shiro seemed like a cool dude, we wouldn’t mind helping you. His disappearance was really weird. I’ve seen a few people on forums who are pretty sure it was some sort of cover-up. They’ve got some compelling points, too.”

“Like I told Lance, I don’t need help. I can find Shiro on my own.”

“No need,” a new voice came from the doorway. Lance and Hunk whirled to face the newcomer, but Keith froze. “I came to find you.”

“Shiro?” Keith croaked, finally turning and looking over.

The man didn’t look quite like the guy Lance remembered from an ROTC alumni panel. A scar bridged his nose and a section hair at the peak of his forehead was a shocking white, even though the rest was black. Most notably, his right arm was pale silver metal up to his bicep – which was actually just as muscled as Lance remembered it, if not more. Well, now that Lance really stared, the man did look like Shiro, with the strong jawline and warm eyes.

“Hey, Keith,” Shiro said. “Long time no see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's such a drama queen u can bet he was waiting outside for the perfect moment to enter what a basic bitch
> 
> come find me on tumblr! iamimmutable.tumblr.com


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Are you sure it’s Shiro?” Allura asked.
> 
> “How exactly would I be sure it’s Shiro? I’ve never met Shiro,” Pidge reminded her. There was a pause.
> 
> “Ah,” Allura said. “Right, I will join you shortly in your control room and verify his identity. And we really must get those bioscanners active, with our information programmed in. They may be quite helpful.”
> 
> “I’ll put it on the list,” Pidge said.
> 
> A list that was now about a mile long. Honestly, this person in the car better be Shiro, because Pidge really did not have the time to deal with impostors.
> 
> aka the team finally meets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof so sorry I'm a day late though like I doubt anyone really cares lol but yeah my b someone I know is getting married and yesterday I came home super late with my hands out of commission so I was like eh I'll do it tomorrow 
> 
> but yeah, here we go, it's getting exciting 
> 
> as always, thanks to my beta, shiv

“Holy shit, what is this place?” Pidge gasped, taking in her surrounding with wide-eyed wonder. She even adjusted her glasses to make sure she was seeing it properly. Allura smiled.

“This is a safehouse, Pidge, known as the Castle of Lions!” Coran chirped. “The name comes from those two lion statues outside, I’m sure you saw them. Many field agents have used this place over the years but since none of them have real assignments anymore, it’s free for our use!”

“We would often have multiple agents staying here at once, since it’s so spacious and extremely secure,” Allura said. “But originally it belonged to my family. My father donated it to A.L.T.E.A. when my mother passed away, but I still vaguely remember living here.”

“Wow. Y’all must have been loaded,” Pidge said.

Allura only shrugged.

“So can I get the tour?” Pidge asked.

Allura took her through the safehouse. It was technically a mansion, with eight bedrooms and more rooms than they could really use, including a library with vaulted ceilings, a sun parlor, a breakfast room, and – this was the kicker – a ballroom that could be converted into a training room. There was also a bunch of high-tech security that Pidge would get to control.

“Yes, we had some of our technopaths help us make it a bit more sleek, even though it’s an old house,” Allura explained when Pidge asked about all the gadgets.

“There are some very useful things installed now!” Coran interjected. “Including a combat simulation in the training room with robotic opponents.”

“Wow, that’s amazing! A.L.T.E.A. must have been really ahead of the curve on advanced technologies.”

“We liked to think so, yes,” Coran said. Pidge couldn’t wait to get her hands on some of the stuff in the house.

Once Allura and Coran finished showing her the controls for the closed-circuit cameras, the border alarm, the camouflage-cloaking mechanisms, and the various traps (honest-to-god booby traps, like what was this house?), they got to work plugging Pidge into the system.

“Coran, you mentioned something earlier about accessing A.L.T.E.A.’s offsite backups?” Pidge asked as she made sure her computers were all working happily.

“Right-o, Pidge! Let’s get on that. I have the access codes so you’ll be downloading them rather than hacking in, which I’ve heard is your specialty.”

“Yeah, it is,” Pidge agreed with a grin. “But I can do this in my sleep.”

“Excellent!”

Downloading the offsite backups would take another few hours, so Pidge started it and as the progress bar inched along, she stood and motioned Allura and Coran out of the room. No reason to sit there and watch the pot boiling.  

“It’ll download on its own,” she explained as they made their way to the kitchen to eat their delayed lunch. “Can I ask you both about my family in the meantime?”

“You may ask whatever you like, Pidge,” Allura said, “but Shiro is the one who’ll have better answers. We know more about Zarkon’s goals than his actions. And, unfortunately, even Shiro’s knowledge is limited.”

“On the bright side, once the download of the backup finishes, you’ll have access to all of A.L.T.E.A.’s electronic resources, including our facial recognition software,” Coran said.

“And you’d be fine with me using that?”

“Yes, of course we would,” Allura said immediately. “We recruited you specifically so you _would_ use our resources to help fight Zarkon, and finding your family may well be an important part of stopping him as well as being a noble goal.”

“Okay, well, thanks,” Pidge said. She wondered if Allura was being so formal because they’d just met, or if the decorum came with the posh voice and gargantuan house.

“You’re quite welcome,” Coran replied. “While you are looking through backups for the software, please install the Alfor AI. We may well need it.”

“It was completed?” Allura asked, her voice suddenly sounding strangled. Pidge raised her eyebrows and looked between the two of them. That was quite the emotional reaction to some AI program.

“Yes, it was, just a month ago.”

Allura’s stoic face crumpled slightly.

“And we’ll be able to speak with it?” she asked in a whisper.

“Yes, my dear,” Coran said, his normally cheer entirely gone. “Your father’s AI is fully functional and programmed with his memories.”

“Oh god,” Allura said, slumping into a chair.

Pidge got it. Her dad had been missing for a year and at this point, an AI with his memories would definitely have been better than nothing. But it also wasn’t the same. Allura’s father was _actually_ dead, so she couldn’t imagine the cocktail of conflicting emotions Allura was probably feeling.

Pidge wasn’t good with emotions, at least when other people were having them. She was fine with her own. So she kept quiet for the remainder of the lunch, leaving Allura and Coran to their grief. After lunch, the three of them parted ways, to do their own work. Allura was apparently in contact with some allies and Coran had “research” to do, though Pidge had no clue what for.

She made a note to find out later.

The A.L.T.E.A. offsite backups weren’t quite finished downloading, but the facial recognition program was. Pidge immediately opened it up and perused it.

She entered in her brother’s picture, and her father’s, setting it so the program would alert her if they showed up in the system. Now all she had to do was wait for it to go off and try not to get her hopes up in the meantime.

She _would_ find them.

And in the interim she would help take down that bastard, Zarkon. Pidge had, of course, looked into him more once Allura had contacted her and asked for her help. He was a nasty piece of work, and directly responsible for the disappearance of half her family.

Pidge wanted justice.

The computer beeped loudly, insistently, and for a moment Pidge’s heart leapt into her throat at the thought that maybe her family had been located already.

But it was just a border alert.

Wait, a border alert?

“Allura, Coran,” Pidge said, after pressing the button to connect her to the house’s intercom. “We’ve got company. Four people in a car.”

“Four?” Allura asked sharply. “Can you see their faces?”

Pidge zoomed in on the footage from the security cameras.

“Four guys. Driver has a scar on his nose, with white bangs—”

“That’s Shiro,” Allura interrupted. “But who are the others?”

Pidge frowned. She didn’t like being interrupted.

“I don’t know. They all seem younger than the driver, maybe around my age?”

“Shiro did say he knew someone we could recruit,” Coran chimed in.

“Yes. One someone,” Pidge pointed out.

“Are you sure it’s Shiro?” Allura asked.

“How exactly would I be sure it’s Shiro? I’ve never met Shiro,” Pidge reminded her. There was a pause.

“Ah,” Allura said. “Right, I will join you shortly in your control room and verify his identity. And we really must get those bioscanners active, with our information programmed in. They may be quite helpful.”  

“I’ll put it on the list,” Pidge said.

A list that was now about a mile long. Honestly, this person in the car better be Shiro, because Pidge really did not have the time to deal with impostors.

* * *

“Shiro,” Keith said again, hoarsely. “You’re…you’re _here_.” He took a few steps forward and flung his arms around Shiro, hugging tightly. Shiro returned the hug just as fiercely.

Hunk and Lance exchanged glances. Lance looked just as shocked as Hunk, if not more, which was comforting. Lance was also being uncharacteristically silent.

“What the hell are you doing here, Keith? Why aren’t you on campus? You had a great scholarship that covered housing, why are you living in this dump?” Shiro asked, when they pulled back from the hug.

“I dropped out,” Keith muttered, a tinge of red crossing his cheeks.

“You dr—okay, we can catch up later,” Shiro said, cutting himself off. He turned to Hunk and Lance. “I’m Shiro, a friend of Keith’s. Lance, right?” He offered a hand, the metal one, out for Lance to shake. Lance hesitated, looking up at Shiro. But they did shake, and Lance pulled Hunk forward.

“Yeah, I’m Lance. This is Hunk. We were in ROTC with Keith.”

“And you were helping him look for me?” Shiro asked. Lance frowned, glancing pleadingly to Hunk for an explanation.

“It’s kind of a long story,” Hunk said, choosing to skim over Keith’s arson and Lance’s part-time heroism. “But yeah, we were offering to help.”

“That’s nice of you,” Shiro said with a smile, and it sounded so sincere that Hunk couldn’t help smiling back.

“Well, you’re here now, so it’s a bit of a moot point,” Hunk said.

“So what happened? Where were you?” Keith asked quietly.

Shiro sighed.

“I wish I could tell you. My head’s pretty scrambled, I can’t remember much. All I know is I was with these people called the Global Association for Legitimate Responsive Action.”

“Were they the ones who shot down your plane?” Keith asked.

Hunk’s mouth dropped open and he heard Lance squawk. The reports had all said pilot error, not that they’d been shot down.

“Shot down?!” Lance yelped.

“Yeah, that’s what the confidential reports at the Air Force Space and Missile Center said,” Keith explained.

“How do you know th—is _that_ why you broke in there?”

Keith scowled at Lance.

“Well, I didn’t do it for _fun_.”

“Wait, you broke into an Air Force building?” Shiro asked. He frowned. “Keith, what have you been doing?”

“This is the first illegal thing I’ve done, okay?” Keith said defensively. “I just…I needed to know _more_. And I finally found something out.”

“What did you learn?” Hunk interjected curiously. He felt weird cutting into the conversation, but Keith and Shiro seemed to be getting riled up and Lance was still oddly quiet.

“That Shiro’s plane was shot down and the team was abducted, and that their real destination was an underwater facility called Baku Gardens, where they were going to study the genetic cause of superpowers.”

“Whoa,” Hunk murmured. The whole “getting shot down” thing was really worrying, actually. This Global Association thing…it attacked a U.S. Air Force plane. That was an act of war. Were they at war?  

Shiro sighed again.

“That was all _highly_ classified. Hell, Keith, you shouldn’t have…done whatever you did.”

“You were missing, what was I _supposed_ to do?”

Shiro shook his head, but didn’t reply. Keith crossed his arms and…well, the best word for it was _pouted_ , even though Hunk suspected Keith was trying to look a bit more menacing than he was actually coming across.

“I guess I should thank you all for trying. I do appreciate it,” Shiro said finally.

“We really didn’t…we _just_ found out Keith was looking for you like five minutes ago,” Lance said, looking uncomfortable.

“Still.”

Lance looked like he wanted to protest further, but Keith began speaking first.

“So this Global Alliance for…?” Keith started, trailing off questioningly.

“Global Association for Legitimate Responsive Action,” Shiro supplied. “The G.A.L.R.A.”

“Right, that,” Keith said. “They were the ones who abducted you? What about the rest of the team?”

“I don’t know where they are. I remember the flight and being captured. After that it’s just bits and pieces.”

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to being shot down,” Hunk said anxiously. “The G.A.L.R.A. like…committed an act of war? Against the U.S.? Are we at war? Are they coming for us? Are we in danger? Are we at war right now?” He could hear himself rambling but these were _serious_ implications.

“Not…not really.”

“Not _really_?” Hunk repeated. “What does that mean?”

“…Maybe we should sit. This could take a while.”

They all acquiesced. Keith and Shiro took the sofa while Hunk and Lance settled on the floor.

“So, I’m not sure how I escaped, but I ended up in the care of people who work for this organization called the Arcane League for Talents of Extraordinary Ability, an organization that’s opposing the G.A.L.R.A. They patched me up and filled me in a bit. Essentially, the G.A.L.R.A. is headed by this guy called Zarkon, who’s…a nasty piece of work, honestly. He’s responsible for a lot of deaths. A lot of people who worked for A.L.T.E.A. are dead because of him. I agreed to work with A.L.T.E.A., the ones who helped me, to try and stop Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A.”

“Extraordinary Ability?” Lance asked. “Like…superpowers?”

Shiro smiled.

“Apparently that’s not the…politically correct term, but yeah, superpowers. A.L.T.E.A. takes in people with abilities and…well, they do a lot of different things, like medical research, but they help people with powers find a place to belong, I guess. The G.A.L.R.A., a lot of them have abilities too, but they’re not as altruistic with them. They use them for really awful things.”

Shiro’s expression was grim, and suddenly the scar on his face and the fact that he was missing an arm seemed much more important.  

“So, what I’m hearing is…the U.S. isn’t at war, but a bunch of people with superpowers are attacking each other?” Hunk asked. “That sounds terrifying?”

“Yeah, well, if Zarkon has his way, a lot of people will die. So…that’s why I’m here. I came to ask you if you wanted to join up, Keith.”

Keith raised his eyebrows.

“I mean, yeah, of course I wanna help. But what about my job? And my loans?”

“Allura and Coran – they’re in charge of A.L.T.E.A. – said they’d take care of stuff like that.”

“Oh. Then yes. Of course I’m gonna help.”

“I can help too,” Lance offered.

Hunk couldn’t say he wasn’t expecting Lance to sign up the second he heard of an evil organization headed by a supervillain. But he had kinda been hoping that for once Lance wouldn’t try to run headlong into danger, because Hunk knew if Lance went, he’d swallow his anxiety and follow.

It was the right thing to do.

“Yeah, me too,” Hunk said, his voice wobbling a bit. Lance shot him a proud grin and Hunk smiled half-heartedly back.

“Do you both have abilities?” Shiro asked.

“I have water powers,” Lance said. He made a swirling motion with one hand, then made a fist. When he unfurled his fingers, a blob of water was hovering in the air in front of him.

Shiro’s eyebrows shot up.

“Okay. Hunk?”

“I don’t have abilities. But…there is this suit that I’ve been working on. It’s this high-tech, weaponized armor. It’s not _quite_ done, but I can help too, with it.”

“Right.” Shiro leveled his gaze at them. “Are you sure you want to come? It’s dangerous and you’ll have to leave behind your lives. You might get hurt—” he motioned to his metal arm— “or worse. We can’t risk you bringing phones, so you won’t be able to keep in touch with your families. It…it’ll be _like_ being at war.”

Lance straightened up.

“You’re letting Keith come,” he pointed out. “You didn’t give him these warnings.”

Shiro and Keith glanced at each other.

“It’s different,” Keith said.

Lance glared at him.

“I don’t see how.”

Keith shrugged, which seemed to infuriate Lance even more. Hunk raised his eyebrows, wondering if Lance’s Keith Fixation had returned at full strength.

“I’m coming,” he insisted. “If there’s some evil guy trying to take over the world or whatever, I’m not just gonna sit around and wait. I wanna help.”

“Me too,” Hunk added. “I mean, I wanna live too, but yeah, I wanna help.”

“Okay, well, I appreciate the enthusiasm,” Shiro said, standing up. “We should leave as soon as possible. The A.L.T.E.A. jet is supposed to leave LAX for Arus at five a.m., which gives us an hour before we have to be at the airport.”

“I’m ready,” Keith said, standing up too and picking up a small duffel bag. “I’m good to go.”

Lance eyed the bag.

“You’re gonna want more clothes than that, Keith. We’re leaving indefinitely.”

Keith just shrugged again, looking away from Lance. Lance scoffed, but Hunk could tell Keith’s indifference bothered him.

Hoo boy, this did not bode well. The Keith Fixation was definitely back, and it had distinctly antagonistic vibes now. Hunk did not want to deal with this.

“Well, Lance and I live pretty close, and we’re gonna need some stuff too. I’m gonna need my tools and the pieces of my suit.”

“Okay, then let’s go,” Shiro said. “Keith, are you sure there’s nothing else you want?”

Keith glanced around the shack, and Hunk did too. It was pretty much bare, which was a bit gloomy, really. It seemed like Keith didn’t have much.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Keith said. “We can go.”

Lance snatched his mask off the floor as they left and Hunk frowned, wondering when he’d taken it off.

It was an awkward trip to collect their stuff. No one talked much. Lance had snapped out of his funk a bit and was chattering aimlessly about what he should and shouldn’t bring, but it sounded nervous to Hunk, who was barely even processing it. Lance talked when he was uncomfortable, and Hunk knew that, so it didn’t bother him.

But he wasn’t uncomfortable, he was _worried_.

He was leaving his school, his life, to join an international super-war.

Oh god, what would his family think had happened to him?

“Hey, Shiro,” Hunk said, interrupting Lance’s debate between his grey shoes and his black shoes. “I know you said we can’t bring our phones, but can we call our families before we go? I’d kinda like to talk to my parents before I disappear from L.A.”

Lance’s eyes widened and Hunk _knew_ Lance hadn’t _actually_ considered what it would mean to never see his family again. Lance _loved_ his family. Hunk loved his family too, but…not like Lance did. He didn’t miss his family like Lance missed his.

“Well, you can call them, but we can’t take the chance that the G.A.L.R.A. will find them and use them against you, so you can’t tell them about all this,” Shiro said.

“Okay,” Hunk agreed reluctantly. “That makes sense. Also, we’re here.”

Lance looked devastated. But only for a split second. He masked it with a flowery announcement as he opened the door to their apartment.

“Welcome to our humble abode!” he said, a bit too loudly. “Make yourselves comfortable, we’ll just pack real fast.” *

They made quick work of packing, ending up with a couple bags each, as well as a bag with Hunk’s tools and the pieces of his suit that he’d put together over the past weeks while Lance was out hero-ing. Hunk called his parents, who’d been worried at first because of the late hour, but then had complained when he’d reassured them nothing was wrong. He even told them he might not call for a bit, but cited a busy workload instead of a super-war as the reason.

It took a lot to hold back the tears and sound normal.

He didn’t know how Lance’s conversation had gone, but he clearly _had_ cried.

“I think we’re good to go,” Hunk said, sparing Lance having to open his mouth and reveal the choked hoarseness that was his post-cry voice. Lance shot him a small, grateful smile.

“Are you guys sure about this?” Shiro asked again. “It’s asking a lot. It doesn’t make you bad people if you don’t come.”

Hunk glanced at Lance, at the watery eyes and red nose that revealed he’d cried. But Lance’s jaw was set, and after so many years, Hunk knew what that meant. Lance nodded at him.

“Yeah,” Hunk said to Shiro and Keith, who was silently shooting Lance concerned frowns. “We’re sure.”

* * *

 “Are you sure that’s Shiro?” Pidge asked as Allura peered at the video feed.

“It’s him. And he seems happy enough, he’s smiling at the passenger. Besides, he wouldn’t compromise this location, even under duress.”

Or, so she hoped. Shiro’s mental fortification was strong enough to keep her out, so it was unlikely that someone could see it in his head without his permission.

And if he had betrayed them, they’d be dead already.

“If you say so,” Pidge said with a shrug. “I’ll let them through, then.” She deactivated all the security measures that were primed to blow the car to smithereens. Allura watched them pull into the motor court through the security cameras. Pidge opened the larger garage for them.

“We should go meet them,” she said. Pidge repeated the message to Coran, then followed her through the rear foyer and the hall, out to the motor court.

With Shiro were three boys, all looking the same age – early twenties, maybe. One was large and broad, dark skinned and dark haired, with friendly brown eyes and a warm smile. The shortest of the three was slim and wiry, dark hair and pale skin highlighting his unusual violet eyes. The last one was lanky and tall, with brown skin and brown hair, but shocking blue eyes.

He was grinning incredulously and gesturing emphatically, while all but shouting.

“ _This_ is where we’re gonna live now?!” Allura heard him exclaim. “This is ginormous!”

Allura frowned. Was ginormous a word?

“Hello,” she called out. All four boys turned to look at her. Shiro waved.

“Hel- _lo_ ,” the lanky one said with a wide, flirtatious grin. “How _you_ doin’?” He reached out to drape an arm over her shoulders and Allura made the split second decision to make an example of him. She grabbed his arm and twisted, bringing it behind his back in a hold, pushing until it would be painful but not _too_ painful.

The boy whimpered.

“I’m Allura. Pleasure to meet you,” she said warmly to the others, who looked surprised, but amused. Coran was chuckling in the background.

“I’m Keith,” the shortest one said, his mouth twitching.

“I’m Hunk,” said the big one, smiling warmly still. “And that idiot who flirts before he thinks is Lance.”

“Harsh, bro,” Lance whined. Allura let him go and he quickly backed away from her. “My apologies,” he added to Allura. “I was briefly overwhelmed by your beauty. I’ll try not to let it happen again.”

And then he winked.

Allura rolled her eyes. He seemed harmless enough. And she trusted Shiro’s judgment enough to give this boy a chance. Shiro seemed very steady, with good intuition. This goofy boy would probably be helpful.

Besides, beggars can’t be choosers.

“Welcome to our safehouse!” Coran said. “The Castle of Lions, as we call it. There’s actually a very interesting story about its name. You see—”

“I trust Shiro told you something about who I am and what you’re doing here,” Allura interrupted. Coran fell silent with a sigh, pulling on his mustache.

“He told us about Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A.,” Keith said. “And that you’re from A.L.T.E.A., an organization made to help people with powers.”

“Good. This is Coran, the Assistant Director of A.L.T.E.A., and Pidge, another recruit for our team.”

“Oh my god, Pidge? Like _the Pidge_? The hacker?” Hunk asked excitedly. Pidge, looking amused, nodded. “ _This_ is where you disappeared to? Do you have powers?!”

“No, Allura wanted me for my mad computer skills,” Pidge replied. “What about you. Powers?”

“Lance can control water and Keith can control fire. I don’t have powers but I’m building…I guess you can call it super-armor?”

“Whoa,” Pidge said. “Can I see?”

“Ye—”

Allura interrupted Hunk’s eager agreement.

“Why don’t you all get settled first and eat something? We’ll have to get to work soon, training and figuring out a long-term plan for combatting the G.A.L.R.A.”

“Okay,” Hunk said instead, looking a bit disappointed but smiling again easily. Allura found that she liked him already.  

The boys unloaded their bags and carried them into the house. Allura gave them a quick tour and then let them choose rooms. Since she, Coran, and Pidge had already chosen theirs, the newcomers had slightly smaller rooms. Lance and Hunk ended up sharing the master, electing to replace the king bed with two smaller ones.

All four boys seemed to be in good cheer and Allura wasn’t sure if it was encouraging or worrying that they were so lighthearted.

 “Where should I set up my work station?” Hunk asked. Allura, interested in hearing more about this super-armor, offered to show Hunk to the second garage, which was used as a workshop. He seemed pleased with the set up and his armor was impressive. It allowed him to fly and was equipped with capabilities for some pretty heavy artillery.

“Yeah, so it _can_ have a lot of stuff, but I didn’t really go out and buy a bazooka so some of its capabilities might go unused,” Hunk said.

“You can check the armory for guns and ammo,” Allura said. “It’s through that door over there. Feel free to take what you like. Knowing some of our field agents, I would not be surprised if you did find a bazooka.”  

“Wow, hardcore. Thanks.”

She and Hunk returned to the house after he was set up to his satisfaction. Then, while everyone was eating, she pulled Pidge aside.

“Pidge, do you have a moment?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I’d like you to check out these boys Shiro brought. Who they are, what they’re like, what they’ve accomplished… I need to know who we’re dealing with and whether they’ll be a burden or a help. Have Coran help you, he’ll know what to look for and he’s a remarkably fast reader.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Pidge said teasingly.

Ten minutes later, Coran came to find Allura meditating in her room.

“They’re young, and green,” Coran said, “but they’re certainly of extraordinary ability. All three of them were excellent students, very bright and hardworking. Hunk Garrett is arguably a genius, has been building impressive creations his whole life. Lance McClain’s powers are strong, and he wields them well. He’s been operating as one of the LA vigilantes, we actually had him on file. He goes by Tempest. Keith Kogane had a bright future until he dropped out to look for Shiro. His powers also seem strong, based on footage Pidge found of him lighting a building on fire yesterday.”

“So we should let them stay?”

“With some training, they’ll be assets in this fight,” Coran said.

“Good.” Allura called them to father in the master sitting room, which she’d repurposed as their meeting room.  

“Okay, everyone,” Allura said. “Welcome. Hopefully you all know why we’re here so I’ll skip that and get straight to it. We are operating under A.L.T.E.A. with resources originally allocated to the V.O.L.T.R.O.N. Initiative. Despite this not being its original intent, the initiative is well suited to our needs. Vigilante Operatives for Large-scale Threat Response and Obstacle Neutralization was meant to be a tactical disaster response team of elite agents with abilities suited to dangerous situations. Unfortunately, things change and you five have chosen to take up the burden of protecting the people of this world. I cannot thank you enough for that. But it will be hard work as we’re working in the dark. We know, broadly, what Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A. want, but not what they’re doing. We may be more reactive than proactive and that can be frustrating, but we’re doing important work.”

The five recruits seemed suitably solemn. Even Lance, who’d seemed to take things lightly up until then, was meeting her gaze with serious determination.

“We will get started tomorrow. For now, let’s eat some dinner and get some rest.”  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> allura ur so melodramatic tbh like that speech lmao. also if anyone was unclear, there is a time jump between the middle section and the first and last. the middle section technically takes place about a day before the other two, then once the boys are recruited, they hope on the A.L.T.E.A. jet and head to Arus. stay tuned for like finally some hints of klance and also to find out why protective brother-figure shiro went to recruit keith for a war like hello that's a bit irresponsible dontcha think shiro?
> 
> I can't believe I'm five chapters in and still on the first ep like goddamn. I feel like the chapters are just getting longer and longer oy vey 
> 
> come find me on tumblr: iamimmutable.tumblr.com


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh.” Lance had to pause and think about what to say next. Conversing wasn’t usually this hard for him, but Keith was completely unreadable. “Does it feel weird to you? That yesterday we were just some kids living in LA and trying our best and now we’re part of an ‘elite team’ trying to save the world?” 
> 
> “I guess. I mean, I don’t think we’re that elite though. I’m pretty sure Allura was saying the exact opposite. We’re not trained or anything.” 
> 
> “Speak for yourself,” Lance said, “ _I’m_ —” he placed a hand on his chest dramatically—“a _superhero_.” 
> 
> aka Lance and Keith have a moment and Shiro is a dank memer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so my laptop has been shitting itself so this update is late but it is still wednesday where I live so yay
> 
> in other news, I really have to get on writing more because chapter six isn't done yet (yikes) but also I might drop the weekly updates for a bit because I live in the US in one of the areas of totality for the solar eclipse and people are visiting me and like...real life might keep me a little busy, so we'll see. next week's update will probably be on time but I wouldn't hold my breath for the week after 
> 
> as always, thanks to my beta, shiv

Lance had woken up early, his body still set to a different time zone. He was too wired to sleep properly, anyway. Joining an international super-war could do that to a person.

He crept out of the room silently so he wouldn’t disturb Hunk, who was sleeping like a log, bless him. It was just beginning to lighten outside and Lance took a moment to get his directional bearings before making for the balcony at the front of the house to watch the sunrise.

To his surprise, there was already someone there.

“Good morning,” he said cheerfully. Keith didn’t turn around to face him.

“Hey.”

Lance stepped up next to him, leaning over the balcony.

“You woke up early too?”

Keith shrugged. Lance frowned. Keith was always shrugging instead of answering his questions. Was it really that hard to carry on a conversation with him? On the trip there, Keith had opened up to Hunk and maybe a bit to Lance, but it seemed like they were back to square one.

Lance sighed, staring off at the horizon.

“I actually couldn’t sleep,” Keith said finally. “I slept on the flight and then I wasn’t tired.”

“Oh.” Lance had to pause and think about what to say next. Conversing wasn’t usually this hard for him, but Keith was completely unreadable. “Does it feel weird to you? That yesterday we were just some kids living in LA and trying our best and now we’re part of an ‘elite team’ trying to save the world?”

“I guess. I mean, I don’t think we’re that elite though. I’m pretty sure Allura was saying the exact opposite. We’re not trained or anything.”

“Speak for yourself,” Lance said, “ _I’m_ —” he placed a hand on his chest dramatically—“a _superhero_.”

“You’re a college kid.”

“¿Por qué no los dos?” Lance countered.

Keith gave him a sidelong glance.

“I can’t tell if you’re just speaking Spanish or if you’re meme-ing me.”

Lance grinned as widely as he could.

“Keith… _¿por qu_ _é no los dos?_ ”

Keith let out an exasperated groan, but Lance could see his mouth turning upwards.

“Your jokes are awful.”

“So I’ve been told,” Lance said with a shrug. “Still fun, though.”

Keith hummed noncommittally.

“So…I’m gonna ask a question and you don’t have to answer, but what did you _do_ for a year after you dropped out?”

Keith shrugged but this time Lance decided to give him a minute.

“I got a job. Well, two jobs, actually. And I looked for Shiro the rest of the time.”

“How did you—how did you know Shiro was even alive?”

“I didn’t but…presumed dead isn’t dead. And the cause of the crash was ‘pilot error’—” Keith spat out ‘pilot error’ like it was a cuss— “which I knew was total bullshit. Shiro doesn’t make mistakes. He’s careful.”

 Lance nodded.

“Gotcha. Well, he’s lucky to have you. Most people wouldn’t drop out of school and everything with so little to go on, even for someone they love.”

“He’d do it for me too,” Keith said simply, and Lance’s heart twisted with…jealousy, it seemed like. Keith seemed so certain, so assured that Shiro would do the same. Lance wanted something like that.

“So,” Lance blurted, eager to change the subject and not dwell on the lack of romance in the twenty-one years he’d been alive. “This is a nice view. Not as good as a sunset on Varadero Beach, but pretty.”

“It’s okay. I like night better.”

“Whoa, okay, tone it down, edgelord,” Lance joked.

“Shut up, I meant I like the stars,” Keith said, rolling his eyes. “I grew up in this small town in Texas, which was _delightful_ , obviously, but you could see a lot of stars there.”

“What about here?”

“A lot here too. It was nice.”

“Nice. Maybe I’ll take Allura on a stargazing date,” Lance said, mostly joking.

Keith rolled his eyes again.

“She had you flat on your back in like half a second.”

“Yeah, well, that’s kinda the _idea_ ,” Lance said, wiggling his eyebrows and giving Keith his smarmiest grin.

Keith sighed.

“I can’t believe you convinced Shiro to bring you,” he muttered.

“I don’t think he would have, except, like, options are pretty limited. Like you said, we’re not exactly the elite.”

“I thought you were a ‘superhero’,” Keith quoted.

Lance snorted.

“I mean, yeah, I try my best, but c’mon. Like you said, Allura took me down in a heartbeat and from the sound of it, the people we’re up against are just as good. I’m toast.”

“So why’d you come if you didn’t think you could beat them?” Keith asked. Lance glanced at him, trying to gauge how sincere Keith was being, but the boy had the world’s best poker face.

Lance decided to be honest anyway.

“Well, first, it’s not like I’m alone. And second…I dunno, _someone_ has to try. I’m in a position to help. How am I supposed to just… _not_?”

Keith gave him a long, indecipherable look.

“Even though you might never see your family again?”

Lance couldn’t help the flinch. Then he glared at Keith, for prodding an open wound.

“Yeah, and _thanks_ for the reminder.”

“I was just…”

“Testing me?” Lance interrupted.

“No,” Keith said, raising his eyebrows. Lance didn’t really believe him. “Just wondering.”

“Well, _don’t_.”

“Okay.”

Lance turned his face to the sun again, resolutely ignoring Keith. A few minutes passed in silence before the same restlessness that had woken him got the better of Lance. He’d always been terrible at cold-shouldering.   

“Wanna get breakfast?” he asked, an olive branch. The sun had long past risen, and Lance’s stomach was protesting the weird shift in his eating schedule.

“I’m okay. Not hungry,” Keith declined, and Lance kicked himself for being disappointed. Keith had barely remembered him to begin with. They weren’t _friends_. Of course he didn’t want the stupid olive branch.

“Well, I’m starved. I’m gonna see what they’ve got.” Lance thought he did a pretty convincing job of sounding unaffected, which was at least something to be grateful for.

“Bye,” Keith murmured absently, tilting his head back to look at the sky. Lance bit back the flood of words that he wanted to say, because asking Keith if they could be friends was lame and he knew the answer anyway.

Downstairs was empty, except for a light snoring that Lance could only hear because everything else was so silent. He followed it into a room at the front of the house and stifled a laugh when he saw Pidge slumped over face-first on a keyboard.

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance said.

Pidge didn’t stir.

Lance tried again a few times before resorting to gentle shaking.

“Hmmwha?” Pidge mumbled.

 “Pidge, my man, you fell asleep. And just looking at your back made mine hurt. Go to bed.”

“Too far,” Pidge whined, slumping forward again.

Lance chuckled.

“Need carrying? I have two siblings and a bunch of nieces and nephews and I have carried all of them up to their beds at some point. Even my older brother and sister.”

“No, leave me to die,” Pidge said.

Lance full-out laughed.

“Yeah, no, that seems a bit counterproductive, don’t you think? Up we go.”

Lance reached over to grab Pidge in a fireman’s lift, but Pidge shoved him away.

“ _Fine_ , I’m going. Jeez, you’re just like Matt.”

“Matt sounds like a smart dude,” Lance commented.

“Matt’s an annoying fuck who won’t let me live,” Pidge said back, but seemed…strangely sad.

Lance filed that away for later.

“Go to bed, Pidge,” he repeated. Pidge waved a hand and trudged out of the room.

Lance glanced at the computer screens Pidge had left open, but they were incomprehensible to him. He shrugged to himself and went to scavenge in the kitchen.

* * *

Shiro’s dream was incoherent. There was none of the usual screaming or pain or purple flashes. Instead, there were splatters of vivid red, and glints of grey, with random gibberish words like “marmora”. When he woke up his right arm ached where it didn’t exist. He sighed and pushed himself out of bed.

God, he hoped there was coffee in this mansion.

Lance was in the kitchen rummaging through the fridge and Shiro found himself surprised that he wasn’t the first one awake. Somehow he assumed he would be. 

“Good morning,” he said, announcing himself. Lance jerked and hit his head on the fridge door.

“Fucking _ow_.”

Shiro winced sympathetically.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No worries. Morning, Shiro,” Lance said cheerfully. “Sleep well?”

“Fine,” Shiro said. He hadn’t woken up screaming, at least. “You?”

“Yeah, fine. Better than Keith, anyway.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. And how would Lance know that?

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Apparently he couldn’t sleep. Stayed up to stargaze.”

“Oh,” Shiro said, nodding. “Figures.”

“He still on the balcony?” Lance asked, too casually to really be casual. Shiro’s other eyebrow climbed up to join the first. He couldn’t figure out if he was more interested in Lance’s poor attempt at nonchalance because he had a tendency to nose into Keith’s life or because there was clearly _something_ behind Lance’s terrible poker face.

“I don’t know, I came down the other stairs,” Shiro said, deciding it was best not to press Lance, since they’d just met, and asking the kid “hey, so how come you’re faking disinterest about Keith when you’re clearly curious about him?” probably wouldn’t go over well.

“Oh,” Lance said.  

There was a pause. Lance looked expectant, and a bit awed. Shiro wondered if he felt like he was looking at a ghost. If he’d been in ROTC with Keith, they’d have met, when Shiro gave a guest lecture for Keith’s class. Lance probably knew him even though he didn’t know Lance. 

“So, is there coffee around here somewhere? I’d kill for a cup.”

“Well, there’s a coffee maker. There’s probably coffee somewhere.”

It took them a few minutes to locate it but once they started brewing it, just the smell made Shiro feel more awake.

“You want some?”

“No, thanks,” Lance said with a chuckle. “Caffeine and I have a love-hate relationship, and we’re kinda on the outs right now. Besides, it hits me hard, I’ll be like shaking and shit. Thanks, though.”

“Yeah, of course.”

They fell into a comfortable silence as Lance went back to rummaging through the fridge and Shiro pulled out some mugs.

The silence was interrupted by someone walking in through the dining room.

“Hey, Shiro,” Keith said. Out of the corner of his eye, Shiro saw Lance stiffen momentarily and he felt both vindicated and intensely curious.  

“Hey, Keith. Coffee?”

“God, yes,” Keith replied, reaching out for a mug. “Don’t put any of your cream and shit in, though.”

“Let me guess, you take it black, like your soul,” Lance said teasingly. Keith’s face twitched, but Shiro couldn’t tell if it was annoyance or amusement.

“No,” Keith replied. Now Shiro could see the amusement in his eyes. “I don’t have a soul.”

Lance snorted and gave Keith a look that bordered on fond.

Shiro wondered how well they actually knew each other and why Lance was giving Keith fond looks and why Keith was hiding his amusement.  

“Well, I’ll leave you two to your jitter juice,” Lance said. “Toodles.”

Shiro waited until Lance’s footsteps had retreated all the way up the stairs before he spoke.

“So how do you know Lance?” he asked. He couldn’t really help the teasing tone, and it made Keith give him a scowl.

“Takashi.”

“Yes?”

Keith rolled his eyes.

“He was in ROTC, and the same major as me. I don’t know him that well. I never really even had an actual conversation with him until he hunted me down for committing arson.”

“But…?” Shiro prompted, ignoring the arson in favor of a considerably less touchy subject.

“No, there’s no ‘but’. That’s it.”

“He seems nice.”

“He seems annoying.”

“And funny.”

“And annoying.”

Shiro grinned.

“Okay, sorry, I get the message. Lance is annoying.”

“Yes.”

“But cute.”

“Yea— _Shiro_.”

Shiro burst out laughing at the angry, mortified look on Keith’s face, laughing so hard he was practically doubled over. Tears formed at the corners of his eyes.

“Oh my god, calm down, you weirdo,” Keith muttered, but he was smiling.

“God, I haven’t laughed that hard in ages,” Shiro said when he finally caught his breath. “Thanks, Squirt.”

“Unless you wanna be Tushie again, we’re not bringing back Squirt,” Keith said, replacing his smile with a glare.

“Aw, Keith, you’re no fun.”

“I’ve _grown_ , anyway.”

“Barely.”

“Fuck off, Shiro.”

Shiro laughed again and felt light. Despite the circumstances, he felt happy.

It lasted right up until Allura told them the plan for the day.

Pidge was going to help Hunk finish building his super-armor. Lance and Keith were going to train with Coran. But Allura wanted to do another session with Shiro.

Shiro couldn’t complain – he knew it was necessary – but he sure as hell didn’t look forward to it.

Allura led him to a sofa in the den. They sat on opposite ends, facing each other.

“How’s the new arm treating you, Shiro?” Allura asked. Shiro wondered if she was delaying for his benefit, trying to make him more comfortable. Unfortunately, if she was, it wasn’t working.

Shiro dreaded this.

“It’s great. I really appreciate you helping Dr. Ryner with the surgery.”

“Of course. It’s not often I get to practice such fine telepathy. I know they hope to begin using the telepath-technopath method more, since we were so successful. I was happy to help further those goals. And, of course, it was for a wonderful cause.”

She clearly meant him, if the winning smile she gave him was any indicator. He forced himself to smile back. He _was_ grateful.

But.

They’d had three psychic interview sessions since their first meeting, and each had gone worse than the last. When Shiro opened his mind, they got minimal information and Allura ended up screaming on the floor. When Shiro didn’t open his mind, they got no information.

A true lose-lose.

“Shiro, I can tell you’ve been closing off to try to protect me, but I can handle it. And we need the information that your mind has blocked off,” Allura said suddenly, like she’d known what he was thinking. Maybe she did, Shiro could never really tell.

He sighed.

She was so _young_.

Not that he was _old_. But the five years between them seemed like a chasm to Shiro. On one side was Allura, and the rest of their new team. Optimistic, enthusiastic.

On the other side was Shiro. Held together by sheer force of will.

He wished one of their sessions would actually yield something, for Allura’s sake. He’d hate to see her optimism sour, like his.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reaching into his mind for the fragmented memories of his time with the G.A.L.R.A.

“This time let’s try something a little different. Instead of starting at the beginning, let’s focus on whatever part of your memories is clearest and comes easiest to you.”

“Um, it’s all pretty fuzzy, Allura. I don’t remember… _anything_ , other than the beginning and…these vague impressions about my time there.”

“Pick anywhere and start, Shiro, it doesn’t matter.”

“Okay, if you say so,” Shiro agreed, closing his eyes. His dream came to the forefront of his mind. It had been so unlike his normal dreams. The vivid red flashed across his vision again, and now, awake, he could identify it.

Blood.

Not his own, though, because there was no pain. Shiro took a breath and tried to widen the focus of this piece of memory.

_The blood was on his hands._

No, wait, his hand. Just his right hand. The metal one.

_The blood didn’t feel warm, even though it probably was, since it was fresh._

Wait, fresh?

_The blood was on his hand._

Oh god.

_The blood dripped to the floor, down from Shiro’s right hand, which was coated with it. It was dim in the room, but not dark enough that Shiro couldn’t see the body lying in front of him, chest gaping open._

Oh god.

_He didn’t regret it. He didn’t even feel that sorry. The man was a sadist, liked causing his opponents pain, toyed with people before he beat them to a bloody pulp. Shiro had shown him mercy he didn’t deserve by ending him swiftly._

_“It’s over.”_

What was over? That man’s life was definitely over, but that wasn’t what he was talking about.

_A painfully familiar voice, hoarse and jagged. “It is over, indeed. It appears we have our Champion.”_

_Champion_.

Shiro lurched upright, his heart thudding painfully in his chest.

“No,” he said aloud.

“No, what, Shiro?” Allura asked gently. Shiro started; he’d forgotten she was there.

“…I don’t know.”

“I saw most of that. Who was that man?”

“I don’t know.”

“Whose voice was that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why did they call you the Champion?”

“I don’t _know_ , Allura,” Shiro snapped. She recoiled and he felt immediately guilty. “I’m sorry, I just…I can’t remember _why_ any of that was happening. I can’t remember why I _killed_ someone and _didn’t even regret it._ ”

“I’m sure you had a good reason, Shiro,” Allura said soothingly.

Shiro held back a scoff.

“That makes one of us,” he said instead. “I’m sorry, Allura, I can’t do anything more today. My head hurts.”

And it did. Shiro had never copped out of a session before Allura was done before, but today, not only did his head hurt, his right arm was throbbing.

Which was pretty fucking awful, since his right arm wasn’t even there anymore.

“I understand, Shiro,” Allura said. “We can try again tomorrow, or the day after.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. This is in some ways the most fruitful session we’ve had thus far,” Allura said, and there was that optimism peeking out. “You’ve made real progress today.”

Shiro sighed. It didn’t feel fruitful. And finding out he’d killed a man really, _really_ didn’t feel like _progress_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> klance klance klANCE KLANCE (I love them I love everything about them) 
> 
> also Shiro killed someone?? dun dun DUNNNNN 
> 
> come find me on tumblr: iamimmutable.tumblr.com


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a week, joining the fight against Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A. had been surprisingly uneventful. Lance and Keith had spent the entirety of most days honing their powers while Shiro trained in combat, Pidge searched for intel, and Hunk made adjustments to his armored suit. Coran and Allura traded off training them and spent the rest of the time researching and contacting allies – Coran – or talking to the newly-installed AI that Pidge had hooked up to the house systems – Allura. 
> 
> aka things start happening and also Pidge has the best insults

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so, a reminder, I won't be updating next week (probably) because I'm busy this week and don't really have time to do the whole writing thing. I'm kinda behind on it anyway, chapter seven isn't even finished right now and I like having more finished ahead of time because sometimes what happens in later chapters makes me wanna change stuff in earlier chapters y'all feel? 
> 
> in other unrelated news I've been thinking a lot about a klance Hogwarts AU???? whOOPS???? so yeah my productivity on this might go down why must I start new things when old ones are unfinished (maybe because I have finished literally nothing so I could never start anything if I waited to finish something) ((that's an exaggeration, I finish short things))
> 
> as always, thanks to my beta, shiv

Sunrises in Arus from the balcony of the Castle of Lions were now familiar to Keith, though no one had joined him since Lance on the first morning. Shiro had joined him in stargazing once and they’d had a very long discussion – argument – about Keith dropping out of ROTC, and UCLA.

_“Keith, I can’t imagine what it felt like for you after I disappeared, but dropping out? You shouldn’t have done that.”_

_“It wasn’t just because of you.”_

Shiro hadn’t believed him at first, but it truly wasn’t just Shiro’s disappearance. That had just exacerbated the whole issue of Keith being completely unhappy and unfulfilled and dreading his future.

_“Shiro, I just…you KNOW I’ve never wanted to go to college, get a job, whatever. I did it because you did and I was good at it so it was achievable, but I didn’t want it like you did.”_

_“What DO you want, Keith?”_

_“This. You knew this is what I’d want, Shiro. You came to recruit me.”_

_“Yeah, and I shouldn’t have, it was, like…really irresponsible of me, dragging you into some sort of international super-war. Your dad would kill me. I’m supposed to be protecting you, not enlisting you to fight a supervillain.”_

_“Yeah, well, my dad always thought you were way more responsible than you are because you always blamed me when things blew up even though it was your fault, like, a solid forty percent of the time.”_

Shiro had laughed at that.

_“Yup, and he always believed me. What a sucker.”_

Keith smiled thinking about it. God, he’d missed Shiro.

The sun was barely a source of warmth but Keith closed his eyes anyway, letting it wash over him. He’d been sleeping only a few hours a night, because insomnia was a bitch, but he was used to it since Shiro’s disappearance and the sunsets _were_ pretty.

He did kinda wish someone else was with him. It had been nice, living with people again after his year alone.

A week later, Keith realized he should’ve known to be careful what he wished for.

For a week, joining the fight against Zarkon and the G.A.L.R.A. had been surprisingly uneventful. Lance and Keith had spent the entirety of most days honing their powers while Shiro trained in combat, Pidge searched for intel, and Hunk made adjustments to his armored suit. Coran and Allura traded off training them and spent the rest of the time researching and contacting allies – Coran – or talking to the newly-installed AI that Pidge had hooked up to the house systems – Allura.

They had progressed, though slowly, until Lance could draw large amounts of water from the air and Keith could start and nurse fires with a fraction of the concentration it had once taken him. Still, the training sessions were at best competitive and at worst antagonistic. Something about Lance just pushed all of Keith’s buttons – buttons he didn’t even think he had. Lance goaded him and Keith, instead of ignoring him, found himself taunting Lance right back.

High road? What high road?

Example: a challenge to rescue the “child” (played by a reluctant Pidge) being cornered by the training room robots without either injuring the “child” or moving. That was all very well and good, though challenging.

The real problem was when Allura made it a competition: who could disable the most robots.

“Oh, you’re going down, Mullet,” Lance said immediately, a cocky grin stretched across his face.

“Put your powers where your mouth is, and maybe you’ve got a chance,” Keith retorted, glaring at Lance.

“If you two sitzpinklers hurt me because you’re too busy peacocking to do this right, I will rip off your testicles and feed them to you,” Pidge interjected smoothly. Lance and Keith both gaped.

“ _Peacocking_?” Lance repeated. “That is _not_ what’s happening.”

“Yeah, and what the hell is a sitzpinkler?” Keith demanded.

“ _You two_ are sitzpinklers, now come on, I don’t want to sit up here all day. I have better things to do.”

And thus it began. They were fairly evenly matched, because Lance struggled with channeling his powers without moving, but Keith had no source of fuel so his fires were too weak to burn the robots. For about five minutes they best they could do were some sprinkles of water and puffs of heat, nothing like their usual dancing waves or white-hot blazes.

“Um, I’m pretty sure I’d be dead or abducted by now,” Pidge called with a little smirk.

“Shut up, gremlin,” Lance shouted. “I’m concentrating.”

Two minutes passed and nothing happened.

“We’ve got to work together,” Keith realized suddenly. “It’s our only option.”

“Here’s an option: shut your fuck,” Lance snapped.

“I don’t think you’re using that word correctly,” Keith pointed out, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth despite his best efforts.  

“What do _you_ know, Mullet?”

“Oh no, I’m being attacked,” Pidge said drily.

The challenge had ended ten minutes later when Pidge got bored of sitting in a corner of the room and Allura sighed before conceding that maybe the task had been too hard.

So, yeah, that was…a thing.

Keith was thinking about it that morning a week later, how Lance was so aggravating but also somehow endearing. He was a walking contradiction – an idiot but intelligent, annoying but funny, rude but kind – and Keith couldn’t figure out what flipped the switch from one to the other.

None of the rest of them were like this. The other six were at least _consistent_ , if not as straightforward as Keith might hope. Keith had never been good with people and Lance was too complicated for Keith to actually understand. But he wanted to.

He sighed and hugged his knees to his chest, staring out at the sunrise. Normally when he was having issues understanding people, he’d ask Shiro for help. But it had been a year and Shiro wouldn’t stop teasing him about Lance (like it was _weird_ that Keith wanted to understand, which it _wasn’t_ ) and to top it all off, they were preparing to fight immensely powerful people and Shiro didn’t have the time to sit with Keith and explain how social interaction worked.

Besides, it felt like cheating to just go “Hey, Shiro, so can you, like, explain Lance’s behavior and, like…everything else about him? Thanks!” He could do it by himself.

Probably.

Keith scoffed at himself. What did he care anyway? If Lance wanted to be an annoying, rude idiot then it didn’t matter as long as he contributed to the fight against the G.A.L.R.A.

Someone shouted in the distance and Keith’s train of thought derailed.

That had _not_ come from inside the house.

Ten minutes later, gathered around the screens in Pidge’s control room, everyone was in various stages of panic.

“We’re being what?” Lance yelped.

“We’re being tracked,” Pidge said. “Or, well, hunted, because there’s no trail to follow. They’re using a grid pattern search to try to find us.”

“A grid pattern? Of the entire forest?” Hunk asked. “That means eventually they’ll find us. We can’t just ignore them.”

“No, we cannot,” Allura said. “The real question is this: do we fight or do we flee?”

“We fight, obviously,” Keith said immediately, certainly.

“Uh, or we could like…leave? This house is like super cool and all, but we can’t fight the G.A.L.R.A. from inside it, right?” Hunk said.

“We should stay, we’re already set up here, and it’d be a good base of operations,” Pidge argued. “We need to operate out of _somewhere_ , and I doubt we’ll find any place better than this.”

“If we go, we can keep who we are and our powers and everything secret for longer, we’ll have the element of surprise for longer,” Lance said. 

“We’d have the element of surprise if none of them reported back,” Keith replied. Everyone turned and stared at him and he realized how ruthless he probably sounded. 

“Dude, that’s pretty cold,” Lance said, sounding a bit awed and a bit judgmental.

Keith bristled.

“They’re the enemy!”

“We don’t know that,” Shiro said. “We don’t know who they are.”

“Actually, number one – I’ve ranked you five recruits by height – we do know who they are,” Coran interjected. “I’ve been examining the video feed and I saw two things. The first is the G.A.L.R.A. insignia on their body armor. That spiky purple sign on the shoulder. The second is their faces. I’ve caught a few glimpses and I recognized the two people who seem to be in charge. The one taking point on the group closest is Sendak, one of Zarkon’s personal recruits into A.L.T.E.A., before the schism. The one with all the computers set up by their vehicle is…well, you know, I’ve never heard his name, but he goes by Haxus.”

“Haxus?” Pidge snarled. “I’ve heard of that fucker. He’s the one who released a list of people in Alabama with abilities so the government could start a registry.”

“He’s a hacker too, then?” Hunk asked.

“He’s not a hacker, he’s a wanker. And a stain on humanity… A wankstain, if you will,” Pidge said scathingly.

Lance snorted a laugh.

“Wankstain?” he whispered. Either everyone was ignoring him or only Keith heard. He turned to Lance and saw amusement glittering in Lance’s bright blue eyes.

“Yes, well, regardless, we do in fact know who they are, if that helps at all,” Coran said.

“We should fight,” Keith said again, at the same time Lance said, “We should leave.”

They stared at each other, Lance raising one eyebrow and Keith crossing his arms.

“Allura, what do you think?” Shiro asked, interrupting the stare-down as Keith and Lance turned to see what Allura would say.

Allura, for the first time since Keith had met her, hesitated.

“I don’t know.”

* * *

Allura’s head buzzed with her uncertainty as the conversation carried on around her.

“How did they even find us?” Hunk asked.

“I don’t know, but I bet it’s Keith’s fault,” Lance said, shooting Keith an accusatory glare. Keith rolled his eyes.

“Say whatever you’ve got to say to make yourself feel better, Lance,” Keith drawled. He then turned to Shiro. “We have to fight, Shiro. Isn’t this why you recruited me?”

“Keith, we have to give this careful thought,” Shiro replied.

“Yeah, Keith, we have to give it careful thought,” Lance parroted, smirking at Keith. Keith began to scowl. “We can’t just rush in, Hothead.”

“I’m not a hothead, and we’re not rushing in.”

“Yeah, but that’s what you’re suggesting.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It is.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“Be _quiet_ ,” Allura snapped. “Now is _not_ the time for childish arguments.” Keith and Lance both looked suitably sheepish.

“Perhaps we could ask your father,” Coran suggested. Allura’s heart skipped a beat but her stomach filled with dread. She’d been simultaneously wishing with all her heart to talk to the Alfor AI and diligently avoiding it.

“Wait, I thought your father was…” Hunk trailed off but his meaning was clear. Allura offered him a small smile to show she wasn’t offended.

“My father is dead, yes. However before he passed away, he and a team of A.L.T.E.A. scientists created an artificial intelligence programmed with his personality, values, and memories. That’s what Coran is referring to.”

“Whoa,” Hunk said. “That’s impressive.”

“Isn’t it?” Coran replied. “Pidge, why don’t you open the program in the library? We have a hologram projector in there, and Allura, you can go speak with your father about his feelings on the matter.”

Allura agreed and steeled herself with a deep breath before heading to the library.

The library was silent and still in a way the rest of the house wasn’t. Or perhaps that was her anxiety, making her feel detached from reality once she’d left the others behind.

When her father died, Allura had grieved, then reached some sort of acceptance of the situation. But it had only been a month and she wasn’t sure her acceptance and her resolve would hold if the AI truly did resemble her father.

The hologram projector flickered to life in front of her and her breath caught.

“Allura,” her father’s voice said warmly.

Allura choked on a sob.

“Father,” she whispered. The projector had rendered his likeness perfectly. “Father, it is so good to see you.”

“My only child, how I have missed your face,” Alfor said. Allura’s yearned with her whole heart to be held by her father. But it was only a projection.

“Please, father, I’m…frightened. G.A.L.R.A. operatives are combing the forest searching for the Castle and I don’t know what to do. I need your help.”

“I would do anything to take this burden from you,” Alfor replied warmly, his eyes lighting with sorrow. Allura hugged herself, but it was a poor substitute for her father’s embrace. It did minutely calm her, make her feel like she was physically holding herself together.

“I don’t know if we should run to preserve what we have or stay and risk everything. I want to fight, but the A.L.T.E.A. operatives are all gone, and the new V.O.L.T.R.O.N. team is ill-prepared to face operatives like Sendak and Haxus.” Allura looked at the image of her father. “I know what _you_ would do.”

“I waited for Zarkon to show his hand, to prevent hasty action. You urged me to preempt his betrayal, but, for the surest course of action, I chose to hold back,” Alfor said.

“I think I understand,” Allura said slowly, unable to shake a sense of doubt.  

“No, daughter. _You_ were right. I made a terrible mistake, one that cost A.L.T.E.A. and the world countless lives. You must be willing to sacrifice everything to fight Zarkon, including the luxury of knowing definitively that you are taking the correct course.” 

Allura’s heart finally slowed down from its harsh pounding. Her mind settled.

“Then I know what I must do, if not whether it is for the best.”

“I am proud of you, Allura,” Alfor said. The projector ceased and she was alone in the library once more. Wiping the tears that she hadn’t realized were streaming from her eyes, Allura marched back to where the others waited.

They seemed to still be in a deadlock, Lance and Keith shooting each other glances, while Hunk paced nervously and Pidge continued typing away, tracking the movements of the G.A.L.R.A. agents.

Shiro and Coran were calmest, and the first to notice her arrival.

“Did you speak with him?” Coran asked.

“Yes, I did,” Allura said. “And I believe that we should fight. This is our base of operations, if not our home, and it is important that we do not let its notable resources fall into the hands of the G.A.L.R.A., especially now that we’ve downloaded all of the A.L.T.E.A. off-site backups. Haxus and Sendak’s men will not drive us away. We must fight, and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon.”

“We’re with you, Allura,” Shiro said solemnly. The others nodded, an air of determination settling over the room.

Allura nearly smiled. Their support was surprisingly comforting.

“Good. You five signed up for a war, and it begins now. Any ideas?”

And thus preparations began. Pidge was to stay behind, coordinating and maintaining communication. Coran would assist her, having plenty of experience with field communications. Hunk and his as-of-yet-untested suit were to patrol the Castle itself, a last line of defense if all the security measures were somehow bypassed. Lance and Shiro were the next line of defense, splitting the house to the north and the south and eliminating any operatives that neared the border of the grounds. Allura and Keith would work in tandem to directly attack the G.A.L.R.A. operatives, picking them off starting with those farthest back, to ensure that if anything happened closer to the house, there was no hope for reinforcements.

All in all, a solid plan that left no one without more experienced supervision and played to everyone’s strengths.

Hopefully.

“Are you sure about this, my dear?” Coran asked, pulling her aside just before she was about to go the armory and fetch their gear. “They aren’t exactly the most qualified for this sort of thing.”

“No, but they’re all we’ve got and they are formidable in their own ways,” Allura said, telling Coran what she’d been telling herself.

“That they are. Your father would be proud, Allura, of your bravery.”

“Thank you, Coran.” Coran clasped her hand briefly before returning to Pidge in the control room.

Allura had offered the others their pick out of the armory, whichever weapons they were most comfortable with, but they had all opted out. Lance was most comfortable with his powers, as was Keith, and Shiro – unsurprisingly, in retrospect – had his own weapons. He carried a pair of pistols, some knives, and – she’d forgotten – his arm was weaponized, able to emit energy and heat and be used much like a lightsaber. For herself, she found a long, whip-like metal cord with sharp edges that she could easily control with a combination of her own combat training and her telekinesis.

They met in the motor court: Hunk in armor, the rest of them in dark Kevlar-padded suits. Allura was suddenly rather pleased with the imposing figure they cut.

“Is everyone online?” Pidge asked over their comms.

“Affirmative,” Allura said.

“Online and fine,” Lance joked. Allura raised her eyebrows at him and he simply grinned in return.

“I hear you,” Shiro said.

“I’m here,” Hunk added.

“I’m good,” Keith said.

“Excellent,” Coran said. “And are you all set?”

Allura looked around at her team, seeing nothing but quiet, ready resolve.

“We are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooh things n stuff are happening (finally, like what the fuck this was so much buildup) also I know no one else might think it's funny but Pidge's insults crack me up 
> 
> sitzpinkler - someone who sits and pees and is ergo a wuss  
> wankstain - self-explanatory, hopefully, and if not you're probably too young to be reading this story 
> 
> and uh OH YEAH KLANCE??? someone please tell me I'm getting the dynamic okay? I mean I personally relate to both of them in that like Lance I too really want to be friends with the people I like romantically (NOT THAT HE LIKES KEITH ROMANTICALLY WHAT PFFT NO) but also I feel Keith's urge to understand people who aren't as direct with their thoughts and feelings 
> 
> and poor Allura her father is dead except he's not and I feel like they sorta skimmed over this in the show (which is okay bc it's not supposed to be a super dark show) but like imagine the conflict??? the feelings??? dead but not dead???????
> 
> come find me on tumblr: iamimmutable.tumblr.com


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How many groups are there, Pidge?” Keith asked.
> 
> “Eight groups, five people each. Forty total.”
> 
> “Do they all have powers?” Hunk asked nervously.
> 
> “Most likely, Hunk!” Coran said. “It is very unlikely that Zarkon recruited anyone without abilities, especially for a mission such as this. Fortunately, he tended to focus on those with combat-enhancing abilities for the most part.”
> 
> “Um, how exactly is that fortunate?” Lance asked.
> 
> “It means that they won’t have people with elemental powers like you and Keith,” Pidge said.
> 
> “Precisely, Pidge. It also means they are unlikely to know what to do when faced with elemental powers such as yours, which is why we split you and Keith up for this mission.” 
> 
> aka they fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well
> 
> @y’all who actually read each week and/or care about my update schedule I am so sorry I know I was supposed to update like over a month ago, but chapter seven really did not want to be written and also life things happened and just…surprise, surprise, writing is hard. hopefully it’s somewhat worth the wait and also hopefully I’ll get back on a regularish update schedule again now that I’m back in the groove.
> 
> no promises though
> 
> as always, thanks to my beta shiv, this time especially for cheering me on as I cried over this monster chapter as it kicked my ass, and also thanks to all my other friends who listened to me bitch about this chapter

Pidge found herself on a bit of a power trip. Being able to see and hear everything everyone else was doing was cool, okay? The border cameras were trained on the G.A.L.R.A. while the cameras on the exterior of the Castle were watching her team.

Allura and Keith had the job that involved her most, because she’d have to help them sneak past the closer groups of G.A.L.R.A. operatives. The flanking plan was risky in some senses, because they were giving up strength in numbers, but hopefully it’d balance out now that they had the element of surprise.

Pidge glanced at the thermal map of the Castle and the surrounding forest.

“Okay, Allura and Keith, the cameras only have a range of a hundred meters past the border, so once you get farther than that, we’re gonna be relying on the thermal sensors.”

“Understood.”

“Okay, good. You’ll want to head west first. Based on their movements thus far, the closest group will turn south toward the house soon, so you can avoid them if you head north. You’ll ambush the group headed for the northwest corner of the forest.”

“How many groups are there, Pidge?” Keith asked.

“Eight groups, five people each. Forty total.”

“Do they all have powers?” Hunk asked nervously.

“Most likely, Hunk!” Coran said. “It is very unlikely that Zarkon recruited anyone without abilities, especially for a mission such as this. Fortunately, he tended to focus on those with combat-enhancing abilities for the most part.”

“Um, how exactly is that fortunate?” Lance asked. 

“It means that they won’t have people with elemental powers like you and Keith,” Pidge said.

“Precisely, Pidge. It also means they are unlikely to know what to do when faced with elemental powers such as yours, which is why we split you and Keith up for this mission.”

“That and because you two can’t stop comparing dick sizes for long enough to work together properly,” Pidge added with a smirk.

“What the—rude as hell, Pidge,” Lance murmured.

“Lance’s is smaller,” Keith said coolly.

Pidge cackled as Lance spluttered.

“Ooh, he got you good, Lance,” Hunk said, also laughing. 

“Hunky-monkey, I can’t believe you would do me like this. On this, the day of my daughter’s wedding.”

“Guys, let’s be serious, and also maybe a bit quieter,” Shiro reminded them.

“Sorry,” the rest of them chorused.

For a few moments, the only sounds were the team breathing and Pidge’s computers. While they waited, Pidge ran pictures from the security feeds through facial recognition and gathered as much intel as she could on the G.A.L.R.A. operatives. Which wasn’t much. Only Sendak had files anywhere and even those were from the A.L.T.E.A. personnel databases, nothing recent.

“Okay, so I looked into these guys. Most of them are off the grid, so I couldn’t get much, but I can tell you about Sendak. He’s got enhanced reflexes and superstrength. Shiro, you’ll be the one meeting his group in a few minutes. Head south and then southeast to head them off. Lance, your group is even closer, so you should go like right now. Head north, you’ll see them.”

“Do not allow anyone to locate the Castle itself,” Allura interrupted. “We do not know what their communication systems are like, and we cannot have our location getting back to Zarkon. You must thoroughly incapacitate them.”

“ _Thoroughly_ …you mean _kill_ ,” Lance said.

There was a tense moment of silence.

“No,” Allura said finally. “Sometimes killing will be inevitable, or necessary. Right now it is not. I will not _discourage_ taking their lives, as it is simpler, but if you cannot bring yourself to do so, it is neither a problem nor a discredit to you. You may make sure they are unconscious and then restrain them.”

“That’s good, because I’m pretty sure I’m not okay with killing anyone,” Hunk said.

Lance was notably silent.

“Orders understood,” Shiro said. Pidge glanced at the camera feed that showed his part of the woods and watched him take off through the forest. She pushed her glasses up her nose in an absentminded habit, contemplating everyone’s reactions and her own opinion.

She was leaning more toward Lance and Hunk’s side. It wasn’t that she was against killing the G.A.L.R.A. operatives. It was just that she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to do it in a situation like this, if it wasn’t truly necessary.

Keith didn’t seem to have that problem. And Shiro was, from what Pidge had seen, unflappable. Unflinching. Which, in some senses, wasn’t news. Matt and Samuel Holt had talked a lot about Takashi Shirogane. Pidge almost felt like she knew him.

But that hadn’t made it easier to hear he had no clue where her family was.

_“I’m sorry, Pidge. I don’t really remember much. All I know is that we were ambushed. I wish I could tell you something useful, but I can’t.”_

Pidge had felt like screaming. When Allura first contacted her, she’d felt hope for the first time in almost a year. Hope instead of just desperate determination. She’d thought that Allura had the information she needed to find her family; instead she had a crusade. Then she’d thought Shiro had the information; instead he had amnesia and probably PTSD. The brief flare of hope flickered out.

Pidge wasn’t even sure being part of V.O.L.T.R.O.N. was any more efficient than searching on her own. Sure, she had more resources, but she had much less time to actually use them. She had other obligations as part of a team.

And honestly, she wasn’t sure she could afford the distraction.

* * *

“And I’m still just waiting here?” Hunk asked unhappily, unable to wait any longer without distracting himself from his anxiety. The woods around the Castle looked daunting instead of scenic, now that he knew there were G.A.L.R.A. operatives lurking around trying to hunt them down. Shadows were enemies and rustling was an attack. Hunk’s heads-up display in his helmet told him his heartrate was elevated.

“Yes, indeed, number two!” Coran said brightly. “Your suit is as of yet untested, but hypothetically very powerful, making you the best candidate to hang back, for your safety and for the safety of the Castle!”

“Goodie,” Hunk said unenthusiastically. “I can’t even see anyone from here. Pidge, is there any way I could hook my suit up to communicate with the Castle defenses?”

“There is, I think, but it might take some time, since we’d have to reprogram some things in your suit.”

“Perhaps I can be of assistance,” said a deep voice. Hunk jumped and he heard Pidge yelp.

“Alfor!” Coran said, shocked.

“Alfor?” Hunk repeated. That was Allura’s father, but he was dead, so…the AI, he realized. Well, geez, that’s creepy.

“Hello, Coran,” the voice said. “Hello to you as well, Pidge, and you, Hunk. I thought I’d offer my help. Instead of having to reprogram his suit, Hunk may simply download my software into his suit and then I can communicate with his heads-up display.”

“Oh. Wow. Okay,” Hunk said. “Sounds great, I’ll start that download right now. Um, thanks?”  

“You are quite welcome. I will alter the parameters of the communications program slightly to fit your suit.”

“Wow, the capabilities of this AI are amazing,” Hunk said.

“Yeah, seriously,” Pidge said. “Coran, any chance I can get an introduction to whoever made this Ai?”   

“It was a team effort, and much of that team is gone, unfortunately. The rest of them are at Olkari Labs so if we ever stop by, I’ll be sure to point you in their direction.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Hunk winced in sympathy. None of them quite knew how to address the topic of A.L.T.E.A. and its fallen. Coran and Allura always closed off when it came up, expressions dark and bodies tense.

The download of the AI interaction software was faster than Hunk expected, so it was only about a minute before a new icon appeared on his heads-up display. It was the letter A, with a circle around it.

“Hello, Hunk,” the deep voice was now sounding in the helmet speaker instead of his comms.

“Um, hi, Alfor AI.”

A chuckle.

“You may simply call me Alfor,” he said.

Hunk hesitated. He wasn’t sure how Allura would feel about people going around addressing the AI like he was actually her father.

“Can I call you Alf?”

“You may.”

“Great. Um, so can you show me the heat map of the area? Or give me a report or something?”

“I can do both.” The thermal map projected onto his interface. “Keith and Allura have already encountered and disabled one group of G.A.L.R.A. operatives and are en route to intercept the second group in the south east. Lance is busy with his first group, as is Shiro.”

“And no one is headed for me?”

“Not as of yet.”

“Hunk,” Pidge cut in. “I’ve been double checking my math, and based on their search pattern and their speed thus far, you’ll be encountering a group in about two minutes. You might want to head them off in the forest. Lance and Shiro are busy.”

“Yes, that would be wise,” Allura chimed in, sounding out of breath. “We cannot let them see the Castle and report our location back to Zarkon.”

“Okay, then here I go,” Hunk said, more to himself than anyone listening on the comms. Five people. He could take on five people. Even if none of the weapons worked – they weren’t all tested – his suit was excellent protection and he could at least fly around and punch people really hard. They’d had enough time to test that part; the combat enhancements programmed into the suit were enough for him to punch through solid cement up to a foot thick.

His suit made some noise while flying, but less noise than he’d make running. Unfortunately, he hadn’t yet programmed in obstacle recognition, so he had to fly the suit manually. He hit five branches and almost ran into trees twice.

Still quieter than running, technically.

He didn’t quite have the element of surprise, because the group of operatives that he confronted had their weapons drawn, all trained in his direction, by the time he arrived. But, on the other hand, they looked pretty surprised to see a flying man in a metal suit.

The woman in front opened fire and Hunk flinched, even though the bullets just dinged off harmlessly. Well, they probably ruined the finish, but Hunk was fine. Which was the important part.

With that reassurance, Hunk flew over and punched the woman in the head. She crumpled, out cold.

“Wow, this might be easier than I thought,” Hunk said.

“Don’t jinx it,” Pidge muttered.

Someone grabbed Hunk and nearly tore the leg off the suit.

“I think I already did,” he told Pidge. He kicked at the woman attempting to rip the suit apart and sent them flying but she got back up and now it was four against one.

They all pounced at once. Two of them held his arms and one punched him right in the face. The helmet protected him, but it was still jarring. Hunk’s heart rate monitor was flashing on his display, but he ignored it because there was no way normal humans could exert enough force to restrain him in the suit. He probably couldn’t rely on the combat enhancements quite so much, then. Time to get creative.

“Alf, can you help me with the controls?” Hunk asked.

“Indeed, I can.”

“Great, thanks. Activate foot thrusters,” he said. The suit did so. Hunk grinned in relief. He flew up twenty feet and threw the two men hanging on his arms to the ground. They hid the ground with sickening crunches, but got up again.

Swooping down, Hunk managed to land a hit on one of them. He went down too.

Three to one.

Someone grabbed his foot.  

“Wow, you are really persistent,” Hunk said, to the same woman who’d almost ripped the suit’s leg off earlier. But instead of yanking, she started squeezing. And, to Hunk’s shock, the metal began crumpling, just a bit. Panic swept through him. The suit was supposed to protect him. He thrashed, and his free leg connected with the woman’s chest. She flew back a few feet with a yell.

She didn’t get up but she wasn’t unconscious. Two and a half against one, then.

Halfway there.

* * *

Allura and Keith were halfway to confront their second group of G.A.L.R.A. operatives when someone cursed into the comms.

“…Lance?” Keith asked. “Everything good?”

“Yeah, just peachy,” Lance snapped.

Allura and Keith exchanged glances.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Keith asked Allura quietly. She was about to try to reassure him when someone else spoke up.

“I can still _hear_ you, Keith,” Lance said, his voice strained but clearly amused.

Keith flushed a bright red and Allura, despite the G.A.L.R.A. operatives and the fight, laughed. 

“Pidge, where’s the next group, exactly?” Allura asked. “Are we close?”

“Not really. If you want to head them off you should probably pick up the pace, actually.”

“We’re already running,” Keith said. “How do we go faster?”

“Keith, you can fly,” Lance interjected. Allura frowned. Keith hadn’t mentioned being able to fly when he described his powers.

“I can’t _fly_ , I can use fire to propel myself into the sky.”

“Same—” Lance grunted— “difference.”

“I’d set all these trees on fire if I tried that and I don’t think burning down the forest is particularly covert.”

“Also super uncool,” Hunk said. “Trees are our friends.”

“Yeah, that too,” Keith said.

“I may be able to telepathically levitate us, similar to flying,” Allura suggested.

Keith shrugged. “I’m game.”

“Allura, it totally makes sense you can do that,” Lance said. “You know…because you’re so _fly_.”

Allura rolled her eyes and saw Keith do the same.

“Focus on your fight, Lance,” Pidge said. You’re going to have another group incoming soon.”

“Yikes, okay, Lance out,” Lance said.

Allura slowed down and motioned for Keith to do the same.

“This will be easiest if you stay as still as possible,” Allura said.

“Okay.”

Using telekinesis on a human was not like using telekinesis on an object. Humans had their own will and their bodies had their own desires and it took much more concentration, if not more power. Object quintessence was static, while quintessence of living things was dynamic, which made it harder to control. Allura’s head ached just slightly by the time they intercepted their second group of G.A.L.R.A. operatives.

“Over there!” The woman in front called, and suddenly they were staring down the barrels of several guns. Allura dropped Keith and instead erected a telekinetic barrier. Getting shot would make things unnecessarily difficult, even though barriers drained her energy.

“Go left, Keith,” Allura said, sweeping her hand out and creating a wave of telekinetic force that barreled over the group leader.

“Okay.” Over the comms. Allura heard him take a deep breath, and then a flame burst into existence beneath the feet of the leftmost operative. With another breath, it roared upward, into a blazing pillar. The G.A.L.R.A. operative screamed. That was distracting enough that the others turned to look and Allura took the opportunity to focus on their guns and yank them out of their grasp, hurling them away. She let the barrier drop and felt rejuvenated.  

Keith’s fire moved on to the next operative and Allura realized she could only see four. One burned and whimpering on the ground, two gunless and angry, and the one who Keith was targeting. Where was the leader?

Her gaze darted around but she only located the leader when someone tackled her to the ground and pinned her down. 

“Allura Ahadi,” the woman said, a nasty grin on her thin face. “Zarkon will praise me when I bring you back to him as a captive.”

Allura lashed out instinctively, somewhat forgetting her powers in favor of her years of combat training. She twisted and rolled, getting out of the pin and leaping to her feet. The woman looked shocked, to say the least. With a snarl, the woman lunged forward, knife in hand. Allura grabbed the whip attached to her belt and snapped it, letting her telekinesis direct it. The leader grunted as her knife was knocked from her hand but kept coming.

Allura jumped back as the woman lunged, narrowly missing being shredded by her claws.

A shapeshifter, then.

Allura flicked her whip so it wrapped around the woman’s wrist and then yanked sideways. The woman went flying into the gunless men who’d started towards her, probably assuming she was an easier target than Keith, who was producing fire at will.

Big mistake.

All three toppled over and Allura cracked her whip, hitting all of them across the chest hard enough to break bone. From the sound of it, she had done just that. She flicked the whip three times, quick and mean, hitting them each right between the eyes. The two men crumpled, and only the woman remained.

The last lash of the whip went around her neck, and with a sharp pull, Allura snapped her neck. Keith’s two were also taken care of, burnt to a crisp. Allura hadn’t really noticed that the screams had stopped, but it was a nice change. Stepping up to the unburned bodies, Allura checked for pulses, making sure she wasn’t leaving the job half-done.

Keith had certainly been thorough.

“Well, our work is done,” Allura said, satisfied that they were all dead. “We should return to the Castle and offer our assistance there. But, unless there’s unforeseen issues, I would prefer not to telekinetically fly us there. It is...difficult, to say the least.”

Keith shrugged.

“Fine with me.”

“Pidge, update?” Allura asked.

“Yeah, uh, everyone else is still fighting, but no major problems yet.”

“Any _minor_ problems?”

“Well…Lance’s normal strategy of freezing people isn’t really working that well long-term, and Sendak keeps getting back up after Shiro takes him down.”

“Shiro, do you require assistance?” Allura asked.

“I’ve got this,” Shiro declined. “He’ll go down eventually.”

“Lance and Hunk could probably use the help more,” Pidge said. “Hunk has another group incoming, and Lance’s keep unfreezing.”

“That is not my fault, okay? This normally totally works, it’s just these guys are freaky strong,” Lance whined.

“We’ll be there soon,” Allura promised.

* * *

Shiro really only had one ear on the comms, because most of his attention was trained on the hulking man in front of him. Shiro knew he was a pretty big guy – over six feet tall and pretty strong – but Sendak was freakishly large.

He was also freakishly strong and freakishly fast.

Shiro dodged a punch but didn’t see the kick and he grunted. But he knew how to take a hit and he rolled with the momentum until he was on his feet again, and lunged at Sendak. He’d been reluctant to activate the powers programmed into his arm, but he was running out of options and he needed an advantage.

When it lit up with a bright purple glow, Sendak’s reaction was the last thing Shiro expected.

Sendak was laughing.

“I see you spent some time with the Druids,” Sendak said. “So did I.”

And then, Sendak’s left arm lit up with purple too.

Shiro held in a sigh. Of course. So much for an advantage.

Sparks flew when their arms collided, and the impact jolted up Shiro’s shoulder. Sendak swung with his other arm and Shiro ducked, hoping to catch Sendak off-guard. Sendak adjusted almost too quickly and Shiro didn’t have any time to find an opening. Shiro disengaged and drew his guns. He hadn’t wanted to kill anyone, but it was like Allura said – sometimes such things were necessary. And apparently he’d done it before, anyway.

He shot Sendak in the leg first, right in the meaty part of his thigh. Sendak just laughed again.

“You think a bullet is going to stop me? Did the Druids teach you nothing? The G.A.L.R.A. cares for its own, boy.”

Shiro frowned. _What did that mean?_ _And who were the Druids?_

He ignored Sendak’s taunts and shot again, into Sendak’s other leg. It didn’t slow him down either. Shiro kept moving backwards and shooting over and over, but he wasn’t affecting Sendak at all.

“Pidge!” Shiro said. “Does Sendak have bulletproof skin or something? He’s not going down.”

“What?” Pidge said. “Not according to my information, but it’s all from the A.L.T.E.A. databases, so I guess it could be out of date. Coran, can someone develop another ability once they’re…however old Sendak is?”

“No. Sometimes people hone their powers and develop new facets of their abilities but Sendak was never bulletproof before.”

“Well, he is _now_ , so what do I do?”

“Are you sure, Shiro?” Allura asked. Shiro stifled his annoyance. It was Allura’s fault.

“Yes, I’m sure,” he replied. “I’ve shot him—” he counted— “nine times, and he’s still on his feet.”

“That’s certainly not an ability he had when he was part of A.L.T.E.A. And people don’t just develop new abilities,” Allura said.

“Not naturally, that is.” Coran added.

“Does it matter? How do I beat someone who’s twice my size and bulletproof?” Shiro demanded.

“Calling for help, are you?” Sendak asked, having heard the last comment. His grin was feral. “Realized you won’t be able to best me?”

And then he lunged.

As Shiro went down with a grunt he suddenly came to the realization that Sendak had been holding back thus far, ergo he was fucked.

Well. Fuck.

Sendak had either gotten tired of playing with him or Shiro had gotten tired, because suddenly he was missing blocks and he could feel himself bruising. The impact from Sendak’s hits was a bit muted by Shiro’s own healing ability but it still _hurt_. Especially now that he was getting his ass beat.

Taking him down the first time had been laughably easy, when Shiro had dropped out of a tree and directly onto Sendak, knocking him out with one blow. After that, fighting the other operatives had taken barely a minute, but it had been long enough for Sendak to recover. Which was unusual. Shiro knew he hit hard and usually people didn’t rouse themselves once he’d knocked them out. Sendak’s abilities must have included some sort of accelerated healing.

Even though apparently that was a new development.

Shiro hit the ground again with a groan.

“I could do this all day,” Sendak said when Shiro got up again. But, Shiro realized, that was a lie. Sendak was showing signs of tiring. Apparently his healing abilities didn’t include superhuman stamina. So if he could outlast Sendak, he’d be able to win the fight.

Well, his family always had called him stubborn.

“So could I,” Shiro told Sendak. “Why don’t you put your bite where your bark is?”

Sendak launched forward again and Shiro dodged aside. The more energy he could make Sendak waste, the quicker the fight would finish.

“I’ve got all day,” Shiro said. “I’ll wait.”

* * *

“I’m waiting,” Lance said pointedly into his comm, dodging another blow. Where the hell were Keith and Allura? He was facing six men, three from each group he’d encountered so far. Only four of the operatives had actually succumbed to the ice coating. Which was bad. Forty percent was a failing grade, and Lance really didn’t like those.

He took a breath and extended his arms, moving them quickly from right to left. A wave barreled into half the operatives, knocking them off their feet. Lance repeated the motion, this time going the other way, and a second wave took down the other three operatives.

He drew the water over them again, and froze it, this time three inches thicker. He’d been trying progressively thicker and thicker sheets of ice, in hopes that eventually they’d start to hold. He couldn’t kill them, even though they seemed like they would be fine killing him.

They all managed to break free within seconds. Lance sighed and got to work again, dodging blows as he collected more water to cascade over them again. The latest layer of ice was nine inches thick. Hopefully it would hold.

Wishful thinking, apparently. Two loud cracks caught his attention and he groaned as the largest man and a lithe woman burst out from the ice.

“Can’t y’all just _chill_?” Lance said, unable to help a grin at his own pun.

At least three people groaned over the comms, but he didn’t have time to discern who before the woman was leaping at him, a knife in each hand. Well, knives were better than guns, which Lance had already taken care of, thankfully. Ice-clogged barrels didn’t make for good shots. Or any shots.

Palms facing upward, Lance threw both his arms in the air, and water encased the woman. Maybe he could just keep her encased until she passed out and then let her out. The woman had just started frantically thrashing about in search of air when Lance was tackled to the ground and there went that plan, because he’d forgotten about the beefy guy. The bubble that held the woman crashed to the ground. She lay there, gasping and barely conscious.

And now he was being strangled.

Wheezing, Lance pretty much forgot about his abilities and began shoving his hands in the man’s face, trying to jab him in the eyes or hit something sensitive. But it wasn’t working – the guy had skin like a rock. Lance’s vision was getting blurry with tears as he resorted to clawing at the hands around his neck, hoping to pry them off. But no such luck.

As he began blacking out, he panicked and without thinking, drew some water to him and then shoved his hand palm-first into the guy’s face. The pressure on his airway stopped and Lance shoved the man off him, relieved. He gulped in oxygen, his throat sore and his heart hammering. Only then did he notice something wet on his face, too warm to be water.

He touched his cheek and when he drew back his hand, his fingers were red. Lance turned slowly to look at the man he’d shoved off.

A spike of ice about three inches in diameter and a foot long was sticking out the back of the man’s skull, entering through his mouth. Blood pooled on the forest floor around him.

His eyes were still open.

“ _Dios_ ,” Lance whispered, and then promptly bent over and vomited. The bile stung his already aching throat, but he couldn’t stop until he was dry-heaving. Tears streamed down his face, falling to the forest floor. He’d killed someone.

So this was war.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah this chapter was a nightmare but it's over now and that's what matters. next up: angst and team bonding


End file.
